What is Dual Diagnosis?
Dual diagnosis, often called co-occurring disorders or comorbidity, describes two or more illnesses of disorders occurring at once in the same person. This is most commonly seen in the form of a drug or alcohol addiction coupled with a mental disorder. For example: alcohol abuse and anxiety or drug addiction and depression.
Is Drug Addiction Considered an Illness?
The answer is yes. A chemical addiction changes the function of the brain which interrupts the individual’s normal behaviors and substitutes them with other behaviors that are connected with using the drug. The compulsive behaviors brought on by the drug abuse often times overtake the ability to control impulses which is very similar to the patterns of other diagnosed mental illnesses.
How Common Are Co-occurring Disorders?
Recent studies show that over 50% of adults diagnoses with a drug abuse disorder also have a co-occurring mental health disorder. A little over 30% of adults with an alcohol abuse disorder also have a psychiatric disorder.
In 2006 the Department of Health and Human Services held a National Survey of Drug Use and Health and found that 5.6 million adults with a substance abuse problem also had a Serious Psychological Distress (SPD) disorder:
Why is Dual Diagnosis So Common?
A common misconception is that one disorder caused the other, which is not always true, even if one appeared before the other. Research actually suggests a couple of possible reasons for the commonalities in chemical abuse and mental disorders.
A mental illness can lead to “self-medicating” in the form of drugs or alcohol when not treated properly. Drug abuse may also bring on symptoms of another mental illness, leaving the individual vulnerable and susceptible to increased risk of psychosis.
Other risk factors:
- Environmental Triggers
- Genetic Vulnerabilities
- Developmental Disorders
How is Dual Diagnosis Treatment Different?
Here at Laguna Beach Recovery we take a special approach to co-occurring disorder treatment. We believe in order for each individual to completely overcome their addictions and disorders a personalized treatment plan must be developed.
Effective treatment includes an integrated plan that will help us stabilize the symptoms of the co-occurring disorders and then move forward with education, individual and group therapies, life coping skills, nutrition and health and a shared decision making that extends to the primary caregivers, family and others that will aid in the long term recovery support.
To learn more about the Laguna Beach Recovery Dual Diagnosis Treatment, visit our Treatment Programs page or call us directly 24/7/365.
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