At Rise in Malibu, we strive to treat all our clients as a whole, not just their addiction. It’s fairly common for addicts to also struggle with mental illness. We know our clients have the best chance at maintaining sobriety if their mental health and addiction are treated together, thus the creation of our dual diagnosis program. Although mental health may not be the cause of someone’s addiction, it can aggravate addiction issues.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction and mental health issues, keep reading to learn more about what a dual diagnosis program is. The more you learn about these programs, the better able you’ll be to determine if these programs are right for your needs.
What Is Dual Diagnosis?
Dual diagnosis treatment is designed around the premise that substance abuse and mental illness are often closely linked. Clients who have drug addiction problems as the result of mental illness may not be able to overcome addiction if their underlying mental health conditions are not treated.
Some studies show that well over a third of all people suffering from drug and alcohol addiction also have a mental health disorder. Dual diagnosis programs work by examining a client’s overall mental health. This statistic shows a clear link between mental illness and addiction.
If you have a mental health condition and you’re in need of rehab for a substance abuse issue, you should learn about dual diagnosis programs. During a dual diagnosis program, it’s important that you know what to expect beforehand. You can expect the first step of these programs to be a general assessment of your psychiatric condition. Afterward, your therapist will help you to analyze the causes of your substance abuse issue and how your mental health problems fit into the equation.
As part of a dual diagnosis program, any psychiatric medication needs will be determined to help you overcome both your addiction and your mental illness. Also, a counseling schedule, as well as support group resources, will be developed to help you overcome your addiction.
Reasons to Pursue a Dual Diagnosis Program
At Rise in Malibu, we want to help you understand why dual diagnosis addiction programs are beneficial. Below are four significant benefits of dual diagnosis:
Underlying causes of addiction will be treated.
The biggest benefit of this type of treatment is that it treats underlying conditions. Addiction can be especially difficult to treat for patients who have an underlying mental illness. Mental illness complicates addiction. Therapists often need to take a different approach to help clients with mental illness who are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol vs. someone just struggling with addiction.
Receiving the correct medication.
Those dealing with mental illness often need prescription medications. A dual diagnosis program will ensure that a client gets all the medications necessary to treat a mental health condition and ensure psychiatric health. At the same time, these programs ensure that clients get medications needed to help with detox and rehab. For example, these programs will include the prescription of medications that treat any symptoms of withdrawal.
Making plans to avoid relapses.
Dual diagnosis programs ensure ongoing treatment. Relapses undermine all the progress made during rehab. Clients suffering from mental health conditions are likely to continue to have any existing mental health condition even after rehab is over. That’s why dual diagnosis programs include an ongoing component. Ongoing treatment helps to ensure continued mental health and prevent relapses.
Figuring out why past treatments have failed.
During these programs, a therapist will go over past attempts (if any) at detox and rehab with the client undergoing treatment. This will help individuals overcome addiction to understand why past attempts have been unsuccessful. It will help pinpoint why treatment has failed in the past and how to make treatment more effective in the future.
Rise in Malibu Can Help You
If you are looking for a program that treats both addiction and mental illness at the same time, we are here to help. At Rise in Malibu, we offer dual diagnosis programs in Malibu, California in a luxury setting. Contact us with any questions or inquiries regarding our dual diagnosis programs.
