Getting the best help for Dual Diagnosis

More often than not a person with a mental health problem actually has two mental health problems.

Dual diagnosis is when someone who is diagnosed with a mental health condition is also misusing or dependent on substances.

This is not uncommon. Often a person tries to lessen the severity of a condition, like anxiety, by drinking or using substances including prescription and other medications.

A dual diagnosis condition can be a mental health problem or disorder leading to or associated with problematic substance use. It can also present the other way around; a substance use disorder leads to or is associated with a mental health problem or disorder.
In both cases substance use can worsen the course of a person’s mental illness. The dependency can also worsen and be a problem on its own.

Research has found that people with dual diagnosis are more likely to be in trouble with the police, to demonstrate violent behaviour, and to have a greater risk of self-harm. Research also points to them as more likely to have experienced trauma in early life and have less social support and reported worse quality of life.

Treatment and recovery for dual diagnosis need to understand the bigger picture, but taking every aspect of the person into account and each of the mental issues that exist for the.

Treatment needs to be designed to effectively help control and understand each piece of the puzzle, with due consideration given to how all the diagnoses may impact one another. This can be challenging and requires an experienced treatment team to manage it effectively.

At Retreat South, we are psychology led so we first properly understand the difficulties faced by dual diagnosis. Our qualified and professional team assists in your structured program which responds to every aspect of challenging mental health conditions.

If you would like to discuss how Retreat South can help you or someone you know with dual diagnosis, call us to discuss an individual treatment program.