When Psychiatric Illness and Addiction Collide: Finding Treatment for Dual Diagnosis

By Meghan Vivo

Why do people use drugs and alcohol? It’s a million-dollar question with a million likely answers. But one contributing factor stands above all the rest: underlying mental or emotional issues.

For some, drug or alcohol addiction is a symptom of a broader mental health issue, most commonly depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, or personality disorders. These individuals may turn to drugs or alcohol as a way to self-medicate the underlying condition and feel better.

For others, years of abusing their bodies with drugs or alcohol may cause or exacerbate a psychiatric illness. To make matters more complex, drug abuse and mental disorders can also both be independently caused by other common risk factors.

The Challenge of Treating Dual Diagnosis

Whatever the order of events, the co-existence of a mental disorder and an alcohol or drug problem has a label: dual diagnosis. The term dual diagnosis is often used interchangeably with the terms co-occurring illnesses, concurrent disorders, co-morbid disorders, or co-occurring disorders.

These very distinct, but inextricably linked, conditions have specific symptoms that interfere with a person’s ability to function effectively. Both illnesses also interact with one another, making it even more difficult to diagnose and treat and making relapse in one condition more likely to cause relapse in the other. Since many of the symptoms of drug abuse, such as anxiety, depression, paranoia, and delusions, are similar to symptoms of mental illness, it can be difficult to understand what is happening in the person’s internal world, and even more difficult to treat.

Though the prevalence of dual diagnosis was only recently discovered, it is now understood that one of every two individuals with severe mental illness has the additional problem of a substance use disorder. Because of the complex interplay between co-occurring disorders, people with dual diagnosis face greater health risks, more financial, legal, and relationship problems, increased emergency room admissions and admissions for psychiatric care, and increased risks of relapse.

Finding Integrated Treatment for Co-Occurring Disorders

Co-occurring mental health conditions and substance abuse disorders affect nearly 14 million Americans each year. Of those only 19 percent receive appropriate treatment, with the majority bouncing around between drug rehab centers that can’t effectively treat a dual diagnosis.

A dual diagnosis of addiction and psychiatric illness requires specialized treatment that can’t be found at just any drug rehab facility. Although dual diagnosis can take many forms, research shows that the most effective treatment takes one basic form: comprehensive, integrated treatment of both conditions at one time from the same clinician or treatment team.

Wellness Resource Center offers one of the best dual diagnosis treatment programs in the U.S. Located less than two miles from Delray Beach in Florida, the “recovery capital of America,” Wellness Resource Center provides affordable treatment to men and women, ages 18 and older, who are suffering from dual diagnosis of psychiatric illness and chemical dependency.

The staff of addiction and mental health experts at Wellness Resource Center offer a consistent daily schedule and highly individualized treatment plans made up of traditional therapies such as group and individual therapy and 12-step meetings, as well as life skills training, trauma resolution groups, expressive art therapy, spirituality groups, yoga, and more.

A dual diagnosis affects every area of a person’s life. As such, effective addiction treatment must address the entire person – mind, body, and spirit. Although recovery is a complex and gradual process, the highest success rates have been achieved when the addict or alcohol begins with primary residential addiction treatment and proceeds through a series of “step-down” levels of care, including extended care and transitional care. This series of steps allows the individual to gradually reduce the amount of structure and support he receives while slowly reintegrating back into the community.

Wellness Resource Center walks its clients through every stage of the recovery process, helping patients not only recover from addiction and mental illness, but also find housing and jobs, develop a budget and manage their money, and find support after formal treatment ends.

Having a dual diagnosis doesn’t spell doom, but it does mean you’ll have to work harder and smarter to beat your addiction. Finding the most effective dual diagnosis treatment program can be a daunting task, but it is one significant step toward recovery.