Dual Diagnosis Therapy For Adolescents

Because of peer pressure and other factors, it is a common issue for an adolescent to have problems like substance abuse and mental health problems. This dual diagnosis problem makes it difficult for rehabilitation facilities during treatment procedures, because both problems should be managed simultaneously. For an effective therapy process, the team or medical personnel must come up with a long-term treatment plan in order for both problems to be treated effectively. One goal of the dual diagnosis therapy program is to treat both problems together and prevent relapse and reoccurrence of addiction.

Considerations

In drug treatment, both problems are treated according to the presentation their own signs or symptoms. Psychological disorders and substance addiction interact with each other and so as their signs or symptoms. If one problem has increased manifestations, the other will worsen and vice versa. If treating signs or symptoms won’t be done properly, the patient is in high risk for life threatening problems. To manage both problems, whole-person approach will be the best option in order to reach the physical, emotional and mental aspect of the patient.

Common Mental Issues Associated With Drug Abuse

There are different mental problems that can occur together with drug and alcohol addiction. Those said disorders include the bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder and depression. The three disorders have their own set of signs and symptoms. Even though mental disorders present different forms and characteristics, it still needs to be treated with accordance to drug addiction.

Facts and Prevalence

According to research from experts, it has been found out that 63.7 % of substance abusers are presented with psychiatric problems. The breakdown of the percentage according to gender shows that 26 % are males and 37 % are females. The development of substance abuse and mental disorder alarms all rehabilitation centers and for that, they have come up with different approaches and treatment options to handle both diagnoses at the same time.

Drug treatment and public treatment facilities offer the same process during rehabilitation. To make therapy successful, the patient should undergo the integrated rehabilitation treatment program that’s being set in a long term basis. This will allow the medical staff to have enough time in treating both conditions and to promote recovery. The services that rehabilitation centers offer are assessment so to know the condition of the patient, detoxification to remove addictive substance in the body, counseling to identify the patient’s thoughts and feelings and after care management to help the patient gain coping skills during post therapy life.