Dual Diagnosis Drug Rehabs

A dual diagnosis rehab program utilizes a treatment methodology that treats substance abuse in conjunction with a mental health disorder. These mental health disorders could possibly include depression, anxiety, bi-polar, acute mania, and dissociative disorders. Dual diagnosis is a term that is often used to describe an individual who has been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, and who also has a drug or alcohol addiction problem. An integrated model of care should be administered in order to treat a person with a dual diagnosis successfully.

Dual diagnosis refers to the presence of both a mental illness and a substance abuse disorder. Integrated dual diagnosis rehab programs offer a type of rehabilitation treatment has been shown to work effectively for individuals with both different types of these disorders. When utilizing this type of treatment model, an integrated treatment team will administer both mental health and substance abuse treatment services. Many different dual diagnosis rehabs throughout the United States have clinicians on staff that can facilitate integrated dual diagnosis treatment.

Individuals that have been diagnosed with a mental illness are reported to be more likely to develop alcohol and drug abuse problems, thus defining the condition of a dual diagnosis. Dually diagnosed patients tend to abuse drugs and alcohol for the same reasons that people who have not been diagnosed with a mental disorder, but they are often slightly more sensitive to the euphoric and negative effects of these substances.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness has estimated that one of every two individuals that have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness also suffers from a chemical dependency problem. Most individuals that attend a dual diagnosis drug rehab will have the opportunity to achieve a full and complete recovery.

Characteristics of dual diagnosis rehab treatment program

• The chance of a successful recovery improves as an individual begins to receive various integrated treatment, which means that mental health and drug and alcohol addiction treatment is administered from a single clinician or from a team of professionals at the dual diagnosis rehab facility.
• A drug or alcohol relapse can occur after an individual who has successfully completed a dual diagnosis treatment program, but most people that experience this will be able to recover relatively quickly and get back to where they were before the relapse took place.
• Treatment clinicians and loved ones cannot force an individual to stop abusing drugs or alcohol. Family and other loved ones can help the person by providing some level of positive support, but recovery must be a person's own individual choice. It may take a long time for some people that have struggled with a chronic alcohol addiction problem to be able to finally achieve long lasting recovery.
• People who attend dual diagnosis drug rehab can benefit from the support of their peers who are also in recovery for a drug or alcohol addiction problem. Many individuals may also benefit from attending self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Dual Recovery Anonymous, upon the completion of the treatment program.

What is integrated dual diagnosis treatment?

Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment occurs when an an individual attends a dual diagnosis drug rehab and receives combined treatment for mental illness and substance abuse from a single clinician or treatment team. This type of treatment process helps dual diagnosis sufferers to gain the skills that they need to be able to successfully manage their substance abuse and mental illness problems while pursuing meaningful life goals.

Integrated treatment will do several things at the same time, including:

• Help you think about the role that alcohol and other drugs have played in your life. This should be done confidentially, without any fear of negative consequences. You should feel free to discuss these substance abuse issues most often when the discussion is confidential, nonjudgmental, and not tied to any type of legal consequences.
• Offer you a chance to learn more about alcohol and various other types of drugs; additionally, an individual attending a dual diagnosis rehab will have the opportunity to learn about how these different substances interact with mental illnesses and with other medications.
• Help you become engaged in supported employment and other various types of social services that may help your process of recovery.
• Help a person in treatment to be able to identify and develop recovery goals, so that they can maintain long term abstinence.
• Provide special forms of counseling that is specifically designed for individuals who have been diagnosed with dual disorders. If you decide that your use of alcohol or drugs may be a problem, a trained counselor can provide special treatment that is specifically designed for people with dual disorders. This can be done individually, or with a group of peers at the treatment center. The dual rehab treatment process includes learning about the specific nature of both illnesses and being taught how to utilize recovery tools in order to avoid future drug abuse problems.

Effective dual diagnosis rehab treatment may help to reduce the risk for many serious types of problems, such as family problems, suicide, violence, incarceration, increased symptoms of mental illness, serious medical conditions such as HIV, and in many cases, even early death. If a person is experiencing mental illness as well as a chronic substance abuse problem, it is important to talk with treatment professionals about how to get both of these conditions under control.

Dual diagnosis rehab programs may include various components of treatment and services that are offered on both an inpatient or outpatient basis. Individuals may receive behavioral-modification training or individual or group counseling, as well as various different types of psychotropic medications. Other elements of a dual diagnosis drug rehab may consist of drug relapse education, and financial and relationship classes. In order to be able to successfully address an individual's mental health and substance abuse problems, a dual diagnosis drug rehab programs are often structured so that treatment professionals can provide coordinated and unified recovery care.