Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Finding Help at Dual Diagnosis Treatment Programs

Dual diagnosis treatment programs help individuals who have a substance abuse problem as well as a mental illness
A high percentage of people who abuse drugs or alcohol have been linked to having at least one mental disorder
Almost thirty percent of people who suffer from a mental disorder begin to use drugs or alcohol at some point in their lives

What is a Dual Diagnosis Treatment Program?

A dual diagnosis treatment program is designed to help individuals overcome a drug or alcohol addiction in addition to helping them cope with a mental disorder such as bipolar or depression.

Getting rid of a drug or alcohol addiction is a hard task on its own but for people who use the drug to help them deal with a mental disorder, such as depression, it can be harder for a person to let go of their addiction. A dual diagnosis treatment program has the resources and medical staff to help a person with their struggles and provide the means for them to come off of the drug of choice while helping them access the right treatment for their mental illness.

How a Dual Diagnosis Treatment Program can help

Dual diagnosis treatment programs can help you get back the life you deserve.

One of the most important aspects of a dual diagnosis treatment program verses a regular treatment center is knowing the difference between the symptoms of the mental illness and the symptoms of the drug addiction. Withdrawal symptoms occur when a person comes off of a drug they are addicted to, but mental illnesses also have their own symptoms and sometimes the symptoms of both illnesses mimic each other. It is important for these symptoms to be treated in a specific way and to be treated differently from one another.

A dual diagnosis treatment program has the knowledge to determine which symptoms are what and can tackle each illness individually rather than treating them as one. It is important for a person suffering from both a mental illness and a drug or alcohol addiction to treat each problem, but going back and forth to each destination that treats each illness separately can be a bit overwhelming.

According to www.nami.org, treatment programs designed for people whose problems are primarily substance abuse are not the best choice for people who also have a mental illness. Regular drug abuse treatment programs tend to be confrontational and can be coercive in nature. Because of this, people with severe mental illnesses may be too fragile to benefit from these programs. Regular substance abuse programs may produce levels of stress that worsen symptoms or cause a person to relapse if a mental illness is present.

A dual diagnosis treatment program eliminates these stressful factors and focuses on each illness separately to help a person slowly get through the detoxing process while helping them accept, understand, and deal with the treatment for their mental illness. A dual diagnosis treatment program is basically a one stop shop for an individual, which has an excellent medical team ready to support and treat both illnesses in one place.

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Is Inpatient Treatment Better than Outpatient Treatment?

When you finally do decide to seek help for yourself or a loved one who is addicted to drugs or alcohol, the growing concern may be what type of treatment is going to be most effective—is inpatient treatment better than outpatient treatment? The answer to this question depends on a variety of different circumstantial factors….

Boozing Blunts Ability to Read Faces

Heavy drinking can affect the ability to recognize other people’s facial emotions, a new study has found. Researchers used functional MRI to monitor brain activity in 15 abstinent long-term alcoholics while they looked at images of faces with positive or negative emotional expressions. The brain scans revealed decreased activation in the amygdala and hippocampus, regions….

One little glass can't hurt an alcoholic, can it?

Can a recovering alcoholic still have the occasional drink, or is it the road back to oblivion? Claire had been sober for two years when she began a relationship with another recovering alcoholic. One evening at his house he made a suggestion. “How do you think we would react if we had just one drink?”….

Violence Against the Homeless: Is It a Hate Crime?

The chapel at Immanuel Presbyterian Church was filled to capacity last Saturday afternoon, with mourners moving up to the balcony. Much to the surprise of his family, hundreds — from infants to senior citizens — came to honor John Robert McGraham, a homeless man who was brutally murdered on Oct. 9. McGraham, 55, was doused….

Recognizing Addiction Signs Early

If you are concerned that a loved one may have a drinking problem or a problem with substance abuse, you’re not alone. Recognizing the warning signs of drug or alcohol abuse early on can make a major difference when it comes to the length of time that it takes for the user to get well….