Dual Diagnosis Rehab
Is a dual diagnosis rehab right for you or your loved one? Dual diagnosis is when a person is found to be dealing with both drug addiction and mental illness at the same time. This can be a tricky and difficult situation to manage, but certainly common and treatable. Examples of common co-occurring disorders would be someone with depression abusing either alcohol or stimulants such as cocaine, or a person with panic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder falling into addiction to benzodiazepines or opiates.
These combinations are logical since the drugs being abused or used in a physically dependent addictive manner are drugs that ease the symptoms of the mental illness. Anyone who knows the pain and feelings of isolation of a depressive episode could understand the attraction of a drug that alleviated that pain or a drug that even temporarily stopped those feelings. A panic attack is a very real biological reaction the body has with pounding heart rate, pouring sweat and feelings of impending death. Generalized anxiety puts the body in a permanent state of fear or chronic unease and can cause one’s own mind to play tricks and warp a person’s sense of reality. These feelings seem uncontrollable, often with no obvious cause and permanent. What person wouldn’t want any escape, no matter how temporary from such horror? Many people can easily become confused and justify drug abuse as their only choice. Every individual is unique and whether one diagnosis is causing the other is debatable, unknown or difficult to prove. Ultimately this distinction is unimportant and typically just an excuse for a person who is needlessly suffering to continue an unhealthy way of living. The important message is that these dual diagnosis conditions are entirely treatable and the correct course of treatment can only be determined by qualified professionals with the proper training and experience.
Diagnosing co-occurring disorders
Statistics are very difficult to gather for these conditions for many reasons, one of which is unfortunately many people still go untreated for a variety of personal and societal reasons. However, (according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness) roughly half of people with mental illness have a co-occurring problem with substance abuse. Conversely roughly one third of people who abuse alcohol and about half of those with a drug addiction also have at least one serious mental illness. These numbers represent millions of people in the Unites States alone. There is absolutely no reason for a person to feel ashamed about such a common problem and access to treatment is widely available. In the past 25 years acceptance has grown and the world is now full of trained professionals full of loving compassion that have willingly dedicated their lives to helping people solve these potentially devastating diseases.
Mental Illness and Addiction
Mental illness and addiction are recognized to be diseases just as real as diabetes. If a person is diabetic, they need their insulin to live. If someone has high blood pressure, they can adjust their diet and exercise, learn relaxation and stress management techniques and take medicines to help save their lives and no one for a second judges them for taking care of themselves. Are you looking for other types of addiction treatment answers? Drug addiction and mental illness are finally being looked at, rightfully so, as just as much of a disease as any other with physical causes and symptoms and proven therapies. Without treatment these diseases are progressive, but under the care of doctors, therapists and support groups available at dual diagnosis rehab facilities, these problems are very treatable and there is absolutely no reason to struggle through these problems alone. Seek treatment today and begin to move toward a solution.