Substance abuse affects millions of Americans every year. The National Institute of Health estimates that many Americans meet the criteria for a dual diagnosis disorder. In addition, these individuals experience higher rates of suicide, homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, and chronic disease.
Dual diagnosis refers to the co-occurrence of two or more disorders, such as addiction and depression. People with this condition experience severe issues in their life, such as difficulty managing emotions and behaviors, poor self-care, and trouble functioning in everyday situations. The combination of these conditions makes treatment harder since people who suffer from dual diagnoses also experience higher relapse rates, lower motivation levels, and poorer outcomes after treatment.
This happens because they struggle to manage their substance abuse and mental health issues simultaneously. Also, most people often seek help when it’s too late. If you suspect you or someone else has a dual diagnosis, you should visit a dual diagnosis treatment center for professional use.
How a Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center Works
After a dual diagnosis, the way forward is to enroll in an integrated program available in any dual diagnosis treatment center and complete it. The first step of the program is assessment. The medical professional use assessment to get more information before making treatment decisions. Assessment helps them discover and understand the underlying psychological issues that caused your substance abuse disorder according to Cleveland Clinic.
Once they know the mental issues that pushed you to self-medicate, they can help you effectively break the substance abuse cycle. So, the doctors mostly begin with substance abuse treatments and then follow up with mental illness treatments.
The benefit of enrolling in a dual diagnosis treatment center program is that it can help you reach lasting sobriety by treating both mental illness and substance abuse. Medical professionals know how difficult it is to gain control of either condition when they choose to treat one at a time.
Benefits of Dual Diagnosis Treatment Centers
- Teach you how to identify and manage your triggers by formulating a plan to help you handle them in the future, according to Wikipedia. In addition, the center equips you with skills to help you deal with the strong triggers and emotions that distract your daily life.
- Before commencing treatment, provide a full psych health assessment to establish your illness and its severity.
- Provide an avenue to help you plan for your future.
- Offer individual counseling sessions and peer support groups to keep you on track. Peer groups motivate recovery by helping you understand you aren’t struggling alone.
- Provide intentionally and focused care after assessment. Once they know your condition, the doctors can confidently offer tailored treatment for your needs. In addition, they treat both conditions together to prevent one condition from sabotaging the treatment of the other.
- Offer treatment for the body and mind through holistic treatments like yoga, art therapy, meditation, massage therapy, and nutritional counseling to promote overall recovery. Such treatments provide balance and are great activities to help you from relapsing.
- Provide education and understanding of yourself and what you are going through. This enlightenment helps you understand and love yourself.
Conclusion
A dual diagnosis describes someone with both a mental illness and a substance abuse problem. Although the condition has the potential to ruin your life, dual diagnosis treatment centers are your best shot at reclaiming control of your life.