Dual Diagnosis Rehab Centers

Dual Diagnosis treatment centers offer specialized care for those clients who suffer from both addiction problems and mental illness. This is in fact fairly common. It can be a chicken-and-egg scenario as which came first. Often people try to self-medicate a mental illness by using, then abuse substances, which may give them temporary relief from their illness. However, substances of abuse only mask symptoms; they don’t actually treat causes of mental illness.

Dual diagnosis treatment is recent, having developed over the last 20 years. Once, specialists believe in serial care; that is, get well from one issue, then tackle the other. However, relapse rates were high and recovery from mental illness rates were not good either. Dual diagnosis addresses the problems of serial treatment in a one-stop-does-it-all method. Medical issues can be treated in dual diagnosis as well. Safe detoxification from substances that produce withdrawal is available in dual diagnosis treatment, including 24/7/365 care from doctors and nurses trained in the details of both mental illness and substance addiction.

Likewise long term use or heavy use of substances can aggravate mild mental illness until it flares into a severe or profound level. Research shows that a great many substances can cause some forms of mental illness, again if they are used heavily or consistently over time.

Dual Diagnosis centers can treat both addiction and mental illness, regardless of how either developed. The professionals there are trained in both disciplines of addiction and mental illness recovery.