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Co-Occurring Disorders – Addiction and Mental Health Treatment Issues

February 9th, 2012

A co-occurring disorder, also referred to as dual diagnosis, is when a person has a mental disorder, such as anxiety or depression along with a substance or alcohol abuse disorder. As if receiving or providing treatment for an addiction wasn’t enough to worry about, the very high prevalence of mental disorders among people with substance abuse problems makes treatment even more difficult.

In fact, according to the American Medical Association about 29 percent of people diagnosed with mental illnesses are also affected by either an alcohol or drug addiction as well and about 37 percent of people addicted to alcohol and 53 percent of people addicted to drugs have at least one major mental illness. Co-occurring disorders has an especially prevalence in criminal justice system. According to study printed in American Psychologist in 1991, 72% of both male and female jail detainees have co-occurring disorders.

In 2004, as reported by a survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), there were 4.6 million adults with both serious psychological distress and a substance use disorder of which 41.4% received treatment only for mental health problem; 5% received treatment only for substance use problems; 6% received treatment for both mental health and substance use problems; and 47.5% did not receive any treatment. These numbers are astoundingly high and seem to make it obvious that more attention needs to be paid to the proper treatment of people with co-occurring disorders.

However, the likelihood of an individual receiving the proper treatment is very low. The main reason for this is in diagnosing someone with co-occurring disorders. A diagnosis of co-occurring disorders can be difficult because you need to be able to establish at least one mental disorder and one substance abuse disorder independently of each other. The reason that the multiple disorders are to be established separately and then diagnosed together as co-occurring disorders is because the best possibility of recovery from both is when they are treated together at the same time.

There is an obvious a relationship between the mental disorder and the substance abuse disorder in co-occurring disorders and a common question whether one could possibly be causing the other. While this may seem like an important question, it is much more important to keep in mind that whether or not one caused the other, they are both there and one can cause the other’s symptoms to increase in number and intensity, so if one is treated while leaving the other unchecked treatment and recovery from both will be near impossible.

A large part of recovery from addiction, and maybe even more so with co-occurring disorders, is hope. It is important to remember that even though successful treatment and recovery of multiple disorders often takes more effort, time, and patience than just one disorder on the part of both the individual affected and the treatment provider it can and has been done. Another vital aspect of recovery and maintaining hope is to not be discouraged if a relapse occurs. Although a relapse may not be a desired part of recovery, it can happen, and most people can bounce back from them quickly, with some effort, and move on with their recovery.

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Tags: disorder mental health treatment substance substance abuse problems

Alternative Health Treatment – 5 Questions and Answers

January 3rd, 2012

1. Why should I look at alternative health treatment as a realistic remedy for my ailment?

While Western medicine has advanced closely in tandem with knowledge of and experimentation with drugs as a way of treating disease and illness.

It’s not surprising, therefore, that it relies heavily on drugs and medications for treating disease. But drugs and medications are not natural to the human body, and invariably there are side-effects, often harmful.

Alternative health treatment is based wholly on natural cures not involving drugs or manufactured or processed materials. As such, it is invariably accepted by the body without resistance, so no energy is wasted in fighting it. It’s like swimming with the current rather than against it.

Besides, alternative health treatment has an excellent record in curing people of illness and disease, arguably a better record than Western medicine.

2. How does alternative health treatment differ in essentials from orthodox medical treatment?

Orthodox Western medicine depends largely on the administering of drugs and medicines, and unnatural procedures such as chemotherapy for cancer victims. It focuses largely on the symptoms rather than the underlying cause. A typical example is the taking of pain killers to cure a headache.

Alternative medicine acknowledges that the natural state of the body is one of good health, and that the body, mind and spirit are closely connected. It recognises that all these components of the whole need to be in balance, and treats illness as a sign that they are out of balance. It therefore works to restore the natural balance and, thereby, good health. A headache would be cured by direct action on the area affected, e.g. by acupressure techniques.

3. Why don’t doctors and surgeons give more weight to alternative health treatment, and why hasn’t it made more progress in being accepted by the medical establishment?

The medical establishment consists largely of doctors and surgeons. Put yourself in the position of a doctor or surgeon. You spent seven gruelling and expensive years qualifying and passing difficult exams, and working long hours for at best mediocre pay. You now have an encyclopedic knowledge of medicines and medical drugs and procedures, and are enjoying a financially rewarding career in medicine.

Then you learn there is an alternative system of medicine based on herbs, and practices such as acupuncture that claim to be able to deal with medical conditions better than the medicine you learned at such cost in money and time. What would your feelings be towards these alternative medicines?