Dual Diagnosis Florida
suffering with a co-occurring mental illness
Identifying and Treating Dual Diagnosis Florida
Substance misuse or abuse problems can be really difficult to identify in people who are suffering with a co-occurring mental illness. Similarly, vice versa is also true; identifying a mental illness is really difficult to identify in a person who abuses substance like drug or alcohol. The reason being, it is very complicated to understand their behavior and find out whether it is their addiction that is responsible for causing a mental illness or their mental illness is leading them to substance abuse.
Until the last decade or so, the problem of dual diagnosis was not recognized by healthcare or addiction treatment professionals. However, when it was recognized, it was found out that about 40 percent of substance abusers suffer from some sort of mental illness or instability. Some may suffer with severe mood swings while others may have depression. There are people who also suffer from memory losses and hallucinations, which is extremely difficult or almost impossible to treat. The patients may regain control over their lives but then they experience severe triggers and intense cravings to consume substance.
Identifying Dual Diagnosis
Identify these signs and symptoms in your loved one who is an addict to find out if he or she is suffering from dual diagnosis:
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- § Sudden mood changes
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- § Negative outlook on life
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- § Being secretive
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- § Loss of motivation
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- § Need to drink alcohol to feel comfortable
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- § Problems in intimate relationships
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- § Borrowing money from friends or stealing money
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- § Feeling of dependency on substance
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- § Experiencing withdrawal symptoms if substance is not consumed even for a short duration
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- § Very high or low moods
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- § Hearing voices or seeing things that are superficial
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- § Strange beliefs
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- § Stress, anxiety, anger and depression
Treating Dual Diagnosis Florida
It is important to understand that one should not try to self medicate the problem at home. A personal suffering from dual diagnosis needs professional assistance under close medical supervision. There are numerous dual diagnosis Florida treatment centers offering specialty treatment programs for teens, adults, seniors and women. However, one needs to be really careful in order to choose the best from among the available options. A comprehensive dual diagnosis program provides patients with
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- § Individualized treatment program
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- § Regular psychiatric evaluations
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- § Dual diagnosis education
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- § Counseling – group and individual
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- § Nutritional counseling
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- § Healing therapies to relax sore muscles and stabilize the mind
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- § Detoxification treatment
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- § Rehabilitation
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- § Emotional counseling
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- § Spiritual workshops
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- § After care planning
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- § Relapse treatment planning
Whenever you look for dual diagnosis Florida treatment, always keep in mind that without treating mental problems and associated symptoms, the person in a rehab is at greater risk of falling back or relapsing to addiction or substance abuse. The symptoms get worse by time because the body of an addict gets accustomed to drug or alcohol. A comprehensive treatment is required to provide a relief to the patients and make them believe that recovery is possible no matter how severe there problem is. Therefore, make sure that the treatment facility you choose takes care of all these aspects.
This article discusses about how to identify and treat dual diagnosis Florida. The author makes it clear that the success of addiction treatment depends on the identification of signs and symptoms of the associated mental disorders. To know more about dual diagnosis, talk to our addiction specialist.