What is Dual Diagnosis?
Dual Diagnosis means that you have an additional mood disorder on top of a drug or alcohol addiction. This could include depression, anxiety, ADD, bipolar disorder, or another mental condition.
Sometimes, drugs and alcohol are used to self-medicate in an attempt to control the signs of these mood disorders. Other times, it’s the drug and alcohol abuse that has caused the secondary mental problem. In either situation, both problems must be treated in order to prevent a relapse from occurring.
Dual diagnosis treatment is designed to address your mental health as well as the substance abuse. By treating the mental health condition, you are able to address one of the primary causes of your addiction so that you can work on a realistic recovery solution.
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Why Does Dual Diagnosis Matter in Your Treatment?
Determining whether you have a mental health condition or not plays a significant role in the way you treat the addiction. If you have a mental health condition, then the appropriate way to fight the addiction is by receiving treatment for your mental health first.
In dual diagnosis, you are working on two problems at the same time: a mental health condition and an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Whether the mental health condition developed before the addiction or the substance abuse triggered the mental health condition, both problems feed the other.
Medical Professionals Can Help
When a medical professional diagnoses a mental health condition, it allows your treatment to change gears and start focusing on the underlying reasons that you are abusing drugs or alcohol. Since substance abuse has a wide range of potential causes, it is hard to find the best treatment approach until after you identify the primary reason that the substance is abused.
A dual diagnosis matters in your treatment because it allows the professionals to help you create realistic goals and work around the reasons you are abusing substances. Without identifying the causes, the treatment that you receive is limited to just the physical addiction. With the diagnosis, your individualized program will include mental treatment as well as physical so that your chance of recovering improves.
How the Diagnosis Impacts Your Treatment
After a medical professional identifies a mental health condition, the diagnosis will impact your current treatment plan. These impacts include:
- Improved focus on your treatment plan
- Additional treatments that focus on your mental health
- Removed treatments that are ineffective in your situation
- Better solutions that are based on your personal needs
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