Treating drug and alcohol addictions can be very challenging. Every client that enters rehab does so with a unique set of circumstances. The most complicated cases may be the ones where the clients are also suffering from mental health issues. The addiction community refers to the presence of both an addiction and mental health issues as co-occurring disorders. Before beginning a discussion about co-occurring disorders, it’s important to note the terminology is only applicable when there’s a true connection between the two disorders. If someone has a mental health issue that plays no role in their addictive behavior, it most likely wouldn’t receive a co-occurring disorder classification.
When the addiction treatment professionals in a New Jersey rehab like our rehab first encounter new clients, the clients go through an initial interview. The purpose of the interview is to collect relevant information to help administrators decide on a diagnosis and treatment plan. If the client admits to having mental health issues, it’s something that warrants serious consideration. It is also possible that clients don’t know about or aren’t willing to disclose the presence of a mental health issue. In such cases, treatment might begin and continue until the therapist discovers there’s more underneath the covers.
When they discover a mental health issue is intermingled with the client’s addiction, it should immediately cause the therapist to reconsider treatment options. In the addiction treatment community, there is a treatment paradigm that the industry refers to as dual diagnosis therapy. This is the treatment option therapists prefer when it’s clear the client has a mental health issue that’s directly related to their addiction. In the following section, we would like to discuss dual diagnosis therapy and why it’s the treatment method of choice for clients who have co-occurring conditions.
What Is a Typical Approach to Co-occurring Disorders in NJ Alcohol Rehab?
Before discussing the role dual diagnosis therapy plays in treating addiction clients who also have a least one mental health issue, a brief discussion about how these co-occurring conditions become intermingled seems in order. First, here’s a partial list of mental disorders that can play a role in addictive behavior:
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- Anxiety disorders
- Schizophrenia
- Borderline personality disorder
For the most part, there are two ways addiction and mental health issues can create true co-occurring disorders. First, addiction and addictive behavior cause individual mental health issues. This happens when someone confines themselves to the cycle of addiction for so long that psychological issues become apparent. It’s quite possible for someone who is suffering from an addiction to fall into a deep depression or battle issues with anxiety. Second, the mental health issue becomes the proximate cause of the addiction. When someone is battling issues like depression, anxiety or a personality disorder, it puts them on the defensive. These folks are hurting and struggling to get from one day to the next.
If they stumble upon drugs that help transport them from a world of suffering to a world where they feel euphoria or even nothing, it’s understandable they would seek the refuge drugs/alcohol would afford them. Of course, that doesn’t make it the right thing to do. The individual just sees drugs as an option to limit suffering. It’s also quite possible that the very drugs a mental health patient is taking for their mental health issue(s) become the drugs to which they become addicted. Regardless of how one’s addiction and mental health issues become intermingled, the therapist needs the ability to address both conditions at the same time.
Simultaneous treatment is necessary because any untreated condition will likely interrupt the recovery process. That’s what dual diagnosis treatment offers. It’s a treatment plan option where the client gets treatment for all of their conditions at the same time. If you suspect you are suffering from co-occurring conditions, you will likely require specialized treatment. That’s something we can offer you with our dual diagnosis treatment option. You must consider this option to avoid the possibility of one condition or the other destroying your recovery. For more information about our treatment services, we ask that you pick up the phone and call us at
Treating drug and alcohol addictions can be very challenging. Every client that enters rehab does so with a unique set of circumstances. The most complicated cases may be the ones where the clients are also suffering from mental health issues. The addiction community refers to the presence of both an addiction and mental health issues as co-occurring disorders.
Before beginning a discussion about co-occurring disorders, it’s important to note the terminology is only applicable when there’s a true connection between the two disorders. If someone has a mental health issue that plays no role in their addictive behavior, it most likely wouldn’t receive a co-occurring disorder classification.
When the addiction treatment professionals in a New Jersey rehab like our rehab first encounter new clients, the clients go through an initial interview. The purpose of the interview is to collect relevant information to help administrators decide on a diagnosis and treatment plan. If the client admits to having mental health issues, it’s something that warrants serious consideration.
It is also possible that clients don’t know about or aren’t willing to disclose the presence of a mental health issue. In such cases, treatment might begin and continue until the therapist discovers there’s more underneath the covers. When they discover a mental health issue is intermingled with the client’s addiction, it should immediately cause the therapist to reconsider treatment options.
In the addiction treatment community, there is a treatment paradigm that the industry refers to as dual diagnosis therapy. This is the treatment option therapists prefer when it’s clear the client has a mental health issue that’s directly related to their addiction.
In the following section, we would like to discuss dual diagnosis therapy and why it’s the treatment method of choice for clients who have co-occurring conditions.
What Is a Typical Approach to Co-occurring Disorders in NJ Alcohol Rehab?
Before discussing the role dual diagnosis therapy plays in treating addiction clients who also have a least one mental health issue, a brief discussion about how these co-occurring conditions become intermingled seems in order.
First, here’s a partial list of mental disorders that can play a role in addictive behavior:
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- Anxiety disorders
- Schizophrenia
- Borderline personality disorder
For the most part, there are two ways addiction and mental health issues can create true co-occurring disorders. First, addiction and addictive behavior causes the individual mental health issues. This happens when someone confines themselves to the cycle of addiction for so long that psychological issues become apparent. It’s quite possible for someone who is suffering from an addiction to fall into a deep depression or battle issues with anxiety.
Second, the mental health issue becomes the proximate cause of the addiction. When someone is battling issues like depression, anxiety or a personality disorder, it puts them on the defensive. These folks are hurting and struggling to get from one day to the next. If they stumble upon drugs that help transport them from a world of suffering to a world where they feel euphoria or even nothing, it’s understandable they would seek the refuge drugs/alcohol would afford them. Of course, that doesn’t make it the right thing to do. The individual just sees drugs as an option to limit suffering.
It’s also quite possible that the very drugs a mental health patient is taking for their mental health issue(s) become the drugs to which they become addicted.
Regardless of how one’s addiction and mental health issues become intermingled, the therapist needs the ability to address both conditions at the same time. Simultaneous treatment is necessary because any untreated condition will likely interrupt the recovery process. That’s what dual diagnosis treatment offers. It’s a treatment plan option where the client gets treatment for all of their conditions at the same time.
If you suspect you are suffering from co-occurring conditions, you will likely require specialized treatment. That’s something we can offer you with our dual diagnosis treatment option. You must consider this option to avoid the possibility of one condition or the other destroying your recovery. For more information about our treatment services, we ask that you pick up the phone and call us at 833-610-1174.