Drug and alcohol abuse affects over 15 million people in the United States. Many of these people die from drug or alcohol-related issues such as accidents or overdose. For some, substance use and addiction don’t develop in a vacuum, but rather result from some underlying psychological issue like anxiety or depression. The combination of substance abuse coupled with an underlying psychological issue is dual diagnosis. For people suffering from substance abuse, it is necessary to treat the effects of substance abuse and the underlying psychological issues to achieve long term sobriety at an Oregon dual diagnosis treatment center.
What is Dual Diagnosis
Dual diagnosis is a term used to indicate both a substance abuse issue and a mood disorder such as depression. A person with a dual diagnosis has 2 separate illnesses, substance abuse, and mental illness. These requires concomitant treatment to achieve true and lasting sobriety.
In the United States, roughly 1 in 5 people suffer from mental illness, including depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses. Many people suffering from mental illness have also been victims of emotional or physical abuse.
For many people, the pain and suffering caused by mental illness are overwhelming. If left untreated, many people turn to self-medication to deal with the torment of mental illness. For many, this takes the form of drug and alcohol abuse. Many people abuse drugs and alcohol to alleviate their feelings of depression or anxiety, which leads them to an Oregon addiction rehab shortly after.
However, after the effects of drugs and alcohols wear off, the original mental illness and misery are still present, oftentimes returning worse than ever. In turn, the person may turn to drugs and alcohol again, to deal with the reawakened sensation, increasing the dosage in hopes of alleviating the mental illness once and for all, eventually leading to addiction.
How is Mental Illness and Addiction Diagnosed?
Dual diagnosis or comorbidity is often hard to diagnose because the symptoms of mental illness and substance abuse can often contribute or even cause the other. For example, substance abuse may lead to loss of employment, social status, divorce, and other issues. In turn, these issues can lead to or exacerbate the symptoms of depression and anxiety.
To arrive at a diagnosis of comorbidity, healthcare professionals often try to determine which illness came first; for example, did the patient suffers from depression first, then begin abusing drugs?
The symptoms of dual diagnosis include:
- You can’t remember feeling happy or satisfied with life without the assistance of drugs or alcohol
- You turn to drugs or alcohol when the symptoms of mental illness become overwhelming
- Withdraw from family
- You don’t talk to friends
Finding an Oregon Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center
Dual diagnosis requires treatment of both mental illness and substance abuse. If you are seeking an Oregon Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center look for an Oregon Addiction rehab facility that specializes in mental illness and substance abuse treatment. The most important thing to do is to seek immediate help to end the nightmare of mental illness and substance abuse.