Dual diagnosis treatment is necessary for successful health and recovery if you have an addiction and at least one accompanying mental health disorder. Treating only one and not the other can lead to a relapse or the worsening of mental health disorder symptoms.

The Dual Diagnosis: Addiction and Mental Illness

Any client diagnosed with both addiction and a mental health disorder has a dual diagnosis. This may be any combination such as general anxiety and alcoholism or bipolar disorder and drug addiction. Sometimes mental health symptoms can be so severe that clients reach out to the abuse of alcohol or drugs in an attempt to self-medicate. Alternately, substance abuse can exacerbate underlying mental health illnesses, serving to worsen the symptoms. Dual diagnosis treatment is the answer for achieving successful symptom management and a stable addiction recovery.

Dual Diagnosis Treatment

Dual diagnosis treatment consists of concurrent treatment for addiction and mental illness. Psychotherapy is the main treatment method for most mental health disorders as well as for addiction. It helps you to uncover the underlying issues beneath your addiction and mental health on a completely personal level. These deep personal insights along with moments of clarity, which are referred to as breakthroughs, provide the basis for a strong recovery. You may participate in individual, group, family and cognitive behavioral therapy (therapy using thoughts to impact behavior) sessions. Dual diagnosis treatment also includes counseling and stress management to help you learn how to manage life with greater ease living in recovery and living with a mental health disorder. Stress is a major trigger for substance use and for the worsening of mental health symptoms so stress management techniques are your tools for maintaining successful living.

Addiction-specific treatment will also involve support group meetings, lifestyle counseling and relapse prevention strategies. Support group meetings are important sources of support because you are able to speak about your experiences, hopes and fears to an audience of your recovery peers. Lifestyle counseling helps you to develop a healthier lifestyle complete with good habits and healthier pastimes. Relapse prevention strategies are your specific, step-by-step plans of action for avoiding harmful triggers for substance use. These are meant to be used every day in order to maintain a successful recovery even after dual diagnosis treatment. Mental health-specific treatment may also incorporate prescription medication as a supplementary treatment in cases where it is deemed to be necessary for symptom management and medically-sound.

If you or someone you love is suffering from the effects of alcohol abuse, substance addiction or any other type of addiction, please call us today.  Our addiction treatment counselors can help you deal with physical, emotional and psychological consequences of drug and alcohol abuse.  A substance abuse treatment program is effective, safe and has helped many men reclaim their lives. Destination Hope is a full service drug, alcohol and dual diagnosis treatment facility in Florida for men suffering from substance abuse and mental health issues.