Who Offers Dual Diagnosis in Treatment Phoenix?

Mental health disorders and substance abuse are often seen as distinctly separate challenges, almost like they’re being viewed through different lenses. But for many people, they’re often deeply intertwined. It’s not uncommon for a family member, a significant other, or even yourself, struggling with depression, anxiety, or a trauma disorder, to also grapple with an addiction to drugs or alcohol.

Statistics show that people suffering from mental illness are more likely to experience a substance abuse disorder than those not affected by one. Dual diagnosis treatment in Phoenix is a specific combination of diagnoses enabling people to seek treatment simultaneously for two disorders so they can heal on both fronts.

What Is Dual Diagnosis?

Dual diagnosis is when someone is clinically diagnosed with a mental health disorder and substance abuse (drugs and/or alcohol) disorder at the same time. As its name suggests, dual diagnosis is not one diagnosis but a combination of diagnoses.

The Cleveland Clinic notes that when two of these conditions are present at the same time in a person, their effects can be worse and actually exacerbate each other. Complex and needing specialized care, this means that untreated mental health issues can fuel substance abuse, while addiction can worsen mental health symptoms, creating a vicious cycle that’s difficult to break.

The Goal of Dual Diagnosis Treatment

The goal of dual diagnosis treatment Phoenix programs is ultimately to address both issues simultaneously when mental health and substance abuse issues are present and prevalent. It’s a comprehensive, integrated approach that recognizes treating one condition without the other can leave you vulnerable to relapsing or running the risk of worsening symptoms. It can, in essence, be a life-saving approach without letting either illness compromise the treatment of the other.

In making a dual diagnosis, a team of professionals at an addiction treatment center in Phoenix will use several screening methods to assess someone for a mental health and substance abuse disorder. Since so many symptoms of both disorders can overlap, the same treatments you might find for mental health disorders might coincide with those for substance abuse disorders. This can be everything from counseling to support groups and steps to manage substance withdrawal.

Treatments can include:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): CBT is an effective type of talk therapy that can help you address “cognitive distortions” — negative thought patterns (like false beliefs or biases) that can negatively affect your behavior.
• Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT): Mindfulness, regulating intense, negative emotions, and distress tolerance (so your thoughts do not cause you to behave in destructive ways, such as suicidal ideation or substance abuse) are key components of DBT in a dual diagnosis.
• Various medicines, as part of medication-assisted treatment (MAT), can be used in tandem for mental health and drug or alcohol disorders.

What Are Co-Occurring Disorders?

When someone exhibits simultaneous symptoms of a substance abuse disorder and mental health disorder at the same time, this is called a co-occurring disorder — a necessary element in making a dual diagnosis.

About 21.5 million Americans have a co-occurring disorder, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Mental Health. Studies have also found that about 50% of people who deal with substance abuse will also have a mental health disorder (and vice versa).

What Are Some Examples of Co-occurring Disorders?

• Scenario 1: Someone suffering from dysthymia may begin drinking to quell their emotions. But alcohol, being a depressant, only serves to worsen these feelings, which spiral into undiagnosed depressive disorder as one’s drinking increases.
• Scenario 2: A person may be prescribed opioid painkillers following surgery, but because they tend towards anxiety coupled with the drug’s highly addictive properties, they develop a tolerance to it, leading to more and more use and then dependency.
• Scenario 3: A veteran with untreated PTSD may begin using any manner of stimulants in an attempt to offset the effects of the trauma. This can lead to increasingly worsening issues with both their mental health and substance abuse.

What Are the Benefits of Dual Diagnosis Treatment in Phoenix?

Treating mental health disorders and addiction separately can lead to significant challenges. Getting help only for substance abuse can run the risk of drug or alcohol relapse since untreated mental health issues may lead to self-medication that can offset treatment progress.

Conversely, when you don’t receive integrated treatment for mental health disorders and substance abuse together, your treatment providers may not be on the same page, and this can lead to a gap in care.

This is why dual diagnosis programs offer equal weight to simultaneously addressing mental health and drug addiction in Phoenix. Here are some benefits of a dual diagnosis:

• Care is integrated: When a treatment program is designed to bring addiction and mental health services together under one roof at addiction treatment centers in Phoenix, underlying mental health issues are treated alongside addiction and rehab care.
• Improved outcomes: Integrated, dual-diagnosis treatment has been shown to decrease the overall severity of both co-occurring disorders and the risk of relapse. (Those who receive integrated care are also more likely to stick with treatment and see lasting results.)
• Reduced stigma: When co-occurring disorders are treated together, it can help to minimize negative judgment and stigma all too often attached to addiction and mental health. Combined treatment with a dual diagnosis breaks down these barriers and encourages people to seek treatment without shame, embarrassment, or guilt.