Substance abuse complicates what would already be a difficult situation when facing mental health issues. Quite often, those combating mental health disorders may use drugs or alcohol to self-medicate, and of course, substance abuse can sometimes cause anxiety, depression, or even psychosis. This is the complex relationship between mental health disorders and substance abuse, more popularly known as “dual diagnosis.”
In this blog, we are exploring the dual diagnosis cycle, its implications in the lives of individuals, and a rehabilitation center in Delhi breaking this destructive cycle for those who have dual diagnosis, which includes mental disorders and substance use.
Understanding Dual Diagnosis
It is called a dual diagnosis when a patient has a substance abuse problem along with suffering from a mental disorder. It can be anxiety, depression, bipolar, or schizophrenia along with alcohol or prescription and illicit drugs misuse.
Substance abuse begins as a coping mechanism for most to handle psychological problems. For example, an anxious person might be subjected to alcohol consumption to relieve the tension they face, while depressed individuals opt for drugs to run away from emotional pain. As time progresses, what initially is relieving soon develops into a problem of addiction, and the underlying psychiatric conditions are made worse.
This cycle of dual diagnosis is vicious because it breeds itself into both conditions. Substances for substance abuse or the abused substances may aggravate mental health disorders due to changed brain chemistry, while unrestored mental health problems force people to seek substances to self-medicate. This creates a spiralling situation wherein both conditions become worse and hence more difficult to treat.
Some Common Challenges Faced While Treating Dual Diagnosis
Dual diagnosis is even harder to treat than the individual problems of mental health and drug abuse. Among the challenges include:
Difficulty in Diagnosis: One becomes really confused about whether it is the mental health problem causing the drug abuse, or it is the drug abuse that is making the symptoms of mental health worse. The signs of mental health disorders like depression or anxiety can be very similar to when drug and alcohol withdrawal occurs.
Relapse Risk: One of the major risks highlighted for individuals who have dual diagnosis is the risk of relapse. Mental health disorders reduce the feasibility of sobriety, and substance use can destabilize the treatment of a mental health disorder.
Treatment Resistance: Due to the circular nature of dual diagnosis, the patient would not report for treatment. The individual may feel that their use of substances is a coping method for controlling or alleviating his or her symptoms of mental health; he or she may feel that, until such time as he or she controls his or her substance use, it will be futile to try to treat his or her mental illness.
Integrated Treatment Needs: The patient with dual diagnosis should be administered an integrated approach towards healing, as dually diagnosed patients can only be treated by simultaneously approaching the mental condition and substance abuse. However, some health care organizations are not capable of handling the complex, interrelated natures that these two illnesses may entwine in a patient.
Breaking Dual Diagnosis Cycle with Right Support
The bottom line to breaking the cycle of dual diagnosis is professional help, which treats both the conditions in totality. It is here that the rehabilitation centre in Delhi plays an important role. Such centres are especially equipped to provide people with the needed help and treatment in battling both these dual-diagnosis conditions.
Rehabilitation Centres in Delhi: Integrated Approach to Dual Diagnosis
Delhi has rehab centers that offer a particular program in their institutions to help people recover from mental health and addiction. Such organizations provide a holistic approach to two conditions in an attempt to find the underlying causes and give them a long-term solution for such conditions.
Overall assessment: It would be the very first step in dual diagnosis treatment, which is a part of such a problem as both the level of a mental disorder and that of a problem with substances of abuse must be understood. This helps in designing a treatment plan appropriate to the needs of the individual concerned.
Detoxification and withdrawal management: To deal with a client who suffers from substance abuse, detoxification proves to be an essential initial step. Rehabilitation centers in Delhi would have provision for medicated detox. This method is particularly required in the case of dual diagnosis because the withdrawal symptoms have great consequences for mental health.
They offer a therapy programme as part of the rehabilitation process within a rehabilitation facility in Delhi. They use all these therapies that may include cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and trauma-informed care, all of which are used for guiding the patients in realizing how their mental health is associated with their substance abuse and the need for better coping skills.
Medication management: Many patients diagnosed with dual diagnosis require psychotropic medication to help them maintain good mental health. Rehab centers ensure that medications and their regimens are prescribed without any kind of interaction with drugs of abuse.
Supportive Environment: the ambience of a rehabilitation center in Delhi is structured and providing an emotional and psychological support system required to recuperate from both conditions. Group therapy sessions, family counseling, and peer support groups make them less lonely and motivate individuals to carry on further on the journey to recovery.
Aftercare and Relapse Prevention: Ideally, once the treatment program has been completed, rehabilitation centers continue to focus on aftercare and relapse prevention strategies. It usually involves follow-up therapy sessions, attendance of a support group, and regular check-ins to help individuals track progress.
Breaking the Cycle for a Better Future
As complicated as dual diagnosis is, proper treatment does make recovery possible. Dual diagnosis may be described as the coexistence of more than one mental disorder in a patient who has substance abuse disorders. Treating the two ailments simultaneously would mean a rehabilitation centre in Delhi can help a person free himself or herself from this cycle and remain so for a long time.
If you or anyone in your circles is suffering from substance addiction and other mental health problems, don’t waste any further time. Contact a rehab center in Delhi today and begin your path to recovery.