Substance abuse is a sad reality in our society today. The rate at which people are getting hooked on these controlled substances is alarming. Drastic measures need to be taken to curb the spread. Other than this, people that are already victims need to be offered help regardless of what led them to this condition.
Speaking of how to curb this menace, we all need to be sensitized, and one of the important areas of sensitization is understanding those things that make people vulnerable. One of them is unemployment or idleness as it were. It has been gathered that societies with more unemployed folks are highly likely to have drug abuse problems. This is something those reliable stats have shown over the years and explains one of the ways to tackle the problem. In simple terms, people need to be gainfully employed as this helps a lot.
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Other than unemployed people, those with mental health complications are vulnerable as well. This is considering how they are likely to abuse these controlled substances and the sad reality is that a lot is at stake when this is the case.
This is especially true as many of the treatment centers for drug addicts are not truly designed to meet the needs of such people. This is why the approach to rehabilitating drug addicts needs to change for the good.
There is a need for a holistic treatment approach. This is so that people that have mental health complications along with their drug abuse problem can get the needed help. More light will be shed on this subject here as we discuss what dual diagnosis treatment is.
This is an especially important subject for everyone and is why we all should read to the end. It is also important that you pay attention even as you read.
What Is Dual Diagnosis?
This is a medical term used to refer to someone that is found to suffer from substance abuse addiction and mental health complication(s). All this happens at the same time, and this explains the severity of the person’s condition.
Other than dual diagnosis, there are other terms used to refer to such people. Some of these terms include co-occurring disorder (which is an equally used term) and comorbidity.
Relationship between Mental Health and Drug Abuse
Before delving into other things that you need to know about dual diagnosis, it is not out of place to understand why it can happen in the first place. The reason is simply that there is a close relationship between drug abuse and mental health.
People with drug abuse problems are even more likely to end up with mental health complications. Some of the reasons for this close link leading to dual diagnosis include the following:
Psychoactive Effects of Addictive Drugs
Controlled substances/drugs like cocaine, heroin, marijuana, meth, and several others are known by several umbrella names. One such name is psychoactive drugs. This name implies that these drugs or substances have psychoactive effects on the user’s body.
In other words, the user’s mood and reasoning capability is altered, and this is why people under the influence of these drugs/substances can do things that they would not have done without this influence. This happens because of the psychoactive drug’s effects on the human brain and some other essential parts. The prolonged use of these drugs can lead to mental health problems.
This can also work the other way around. This is because people with mental health problems that are not caused by using psychoactive drugs can start using these controlled substances inappropriately as well. This is because they are not in the right frame of mind.
The Difficulty of Helping People with Dual Diagnosis
We need to start by stating that rehabilitating people with this problem is possible. Some people have had it and are now all right after getting the needed rehabilitation and treatment from the right place.
Be that as it may, it is not a stroll in the park. Helping someone that has this problem can be incredibly challenging. However, we all can take solace in the fact that it is very possible. Just so you know one with this problem can recover, you can check out this story.
Having made it clear that recovery is a possibility, you need to understand the difficulties as this would help you prepare well enough. On this note, some of the things you should be aware of include the following:
Success Is Only Achieved by Treating Both Disorders
It is called a dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorder for no other reason than the fact that you are dealing with (at least) two disorders. One is the mental complication(s), and the other is the drug abuse problem.
The way its rehabilitation works is that both complications need to be addressed at the same time. It would be ineffective if you attend to one without paying attention to the other. Unfortunately, this is the failure of many rehabilitation efforts. This is as attention is paid to one at the expense of the other. This should not be the case as both disorders have to be treated at the same time.
It is possible to attend solely to the drug abuse problem and see some positive changes. However, this would be short-lived. This is especially because it takes a lot of mental effort on the part of the addict to stay on track. Sadly, an addict that also has mental health complications is not in the right frame mentally to give it what it takes. So, both disorders need to be attended to get the right results.
Not Every Drug Rehab Center Is Equipped to Handle Dual Diagnosis Patients
This is just as true as every other thing that has been mentioned before now. In the bid to get someone with this problem the needed help, you need to be deliberate about finding the right treatment center. The reason is that not every treatment center for drug addicts has human and other resources required to treat and rehabilitate such patients. So, you need to do your homework in finding the right dual diagnosis rehab for people with this co-occurring disorder.
Wrap Up
Treating and rehabilitating someone that has a co-occurring disorder is quite difficult. However, it is very possible to get the right result.
This is as long as the right measures are taken, and this includes dealing with the right rehab and treatment center. Quite a lot has been discussed on this subject here and you are advised to ensure people with this co-occurring disorder around you get the needed treatment in the right treatment center.
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