Dual Diagnosis - Dual Diagnosis Treatment

Dual Diagnosis; Depression and Drug, Alcohol Use

Now referred to as co-occurring disorder, dual diagnosis is present when a person has both a drug or alcohol abuse problem and a mood disorder. This mood disorder includes but is not limited to diagnosis of depression, ADD, ADDHD, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder or bi polar (depression). Many people who are abusing alcohol and or drugs also suffer from a mood disorder. These people have a dual diagnosis, also known as co-occurring problem. When a person has an alcohol and or drug dependency and a mood disorder they are considered to have a dual diagnosis, co-occurring disorder. This condition used to be referred to as a dual diagnosis and has recently changed to co-occurring disorder.

People with drug abuse or dependency problem often use alcohol and or drugs to self medicate themselves. Quite often one or both of these problems are undiagnosed or improperly treated issues. Many people who are currently suffering from alcoholism or drug dependency have some form of diagnosed or undiagnosed psychological mood disorder. When this is the case, they are considered to be self-medicating their mood disorder with drugs and or alcohol. Having and a dual diagnosis, co-occurring condition is very significant to the successful treatment of the alcoholism and drug abuse. Unless the mood disorder is properly diagnosed and addressed, it will always be one of the primary reasons someone cannot maintain long term abstinence and recovery.

It is often difficult to know whether the mental illness or drug abuse problem occurred first. Someone with a psychiatric problem may drink or use drugs in an attempt to feel calmer, more energetic or cheerful. Doctors call this self-medication. Frequent self-medication may lead a person to become physically or psychologically dependent on alcohol or drugs. On the other hand, a person whose substance abuse problem has become severe may develop symptoms of a psychiatric disorder, including depression, rage, hallucinations, delusions or attempts at suicide.*

Although dual diagnosis has only been recognized in recent years, it is pervasive. It has been estimated that 37 percent of alcohol abusers and 53 percent of drug abusers also have at least one serious mental illness. Conversely, it has been estimated that 29 percent of all people diagnosed as mentally ill abuse either alcohol or drugs.*

For many drug abuse patients, mood disorders are a constant companion. Among cocaine abusers, for example, depressive disorders are the most common examples when it comes to dual diagnosis, co-occurring conditions. The relationship between mood disorders and drug abuse in these patients is often complex and interconnected: Drug abuse patients may develop depression as a result of the physical and psychological suffering associated with their drug use, and patients suffering from mood disorders may become drug dependent in attempts to self-medicate. For patients suffering from both drug abuse and mood disorders, the conditions once seemed impossible to untangle, but recent NIDA research suggests that treatment for the mood disorder alone also can have a positive effect on drug abuse rehab.
People with a mental illness are three to six times more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol than people without a mental illness. However, some mental illnesses occur more frequently than others. The most common are:

• depressive disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder;
• anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other phobias; and
• other psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and personality disorders.

One NIDA-supported study found that drug use declined among teenage drug dependence patients being treated with a medication for bipolar disorder, which is characterized by alternating periods of depression. In a related study, chronic opiate-dependent adults reported less drug abuse when they were treated with the antidepressant imipramine for co-morbid depression. There are treatment centers which do a good job of treating dual diagnosis.