Drug Rehabilitation for People Suffering with Dual Diagnosis
What Is Dual Diagnosis?
If you have received a dual diagnosis, that means you have a mental health diagnosis running alongside your substance dependence. Generally, in clinical psychology, dual diagnosis, or co-occurring disorders, are more difficult to determine and are more complex to rehabilitate than when you have an addiction on its own. When you go through drug rehabilitation, it’s important to understand the underlying mental health disorder, and whether the substance abuse is the secondary factor for your co-occurring disorder, or whether you have an underlying mental health disorder which is contributing towards your substance abuse.
There are several different names for dual diagnosis in the medical and psychopathological field. Some of the names include Comorbidity, Co-occurring Disorders, Dual Pathology and Dual Disorder. Causality theory suggests that quite a few mental disorders are triggered by substance use and abuse, and you may have found that your mental disorder has got worse as you have increased your substance use.
If you have got to the stage where you feel out of control, and you need help, a drug rehabilitation programme can help you to get back control of your life and provide guiding principles to move forward and live in sobriety within society. Drug rehabilitation is the start of a journey of recovery that will last your whole life; not a destination. By understanding your co-occurring mental disorders, and having a new mental outlook, combined with strategies for life, you can take back control and have hope for the future, learning to live a productive and self-actualising life.
Anxiety Disorder
Anxiety disorder brings about excessive feelings of worry and anxiousness which can have serious repercussions in your daily life. Anxiety disorder can come in the form of specific phobias, panic disorder, social anxiety and generalised anxiety disorders. In many cases, those that suffer from anxiety struggle to adapt to daily life and seek alternative ways to self-medicate and escape their symptoms. Unfortunately, drug use can be the result, and if you have anxiety and have been using drugs, it’s likely that your symptoms of anxiety will have worsened. You may have experienced your anxiety disorder and drug use spiralling out of control together, as they interact and cause your situation and life to worsen.
If you’ve been experiencing excessive stress, worry, headaches, palpitations, fatigue and shortness of breath, you may well be suffering from anxiety. Anxiety can also present symptoms of other mental conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and PTSD. When treating anxiety disorders and drug use disorders together, it’s important that the rehabilitation process seeks to understand and change your experience of both disorders.
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Depression
Depression is often diagnosed in those who have persistent low, sad mood states, which are not adapted to the actual life situation. Substance abuse and depression often go hand-in-hand, and these co-occurring disorders can cause your life to spiral out of control. By seeking out drugs in order to lessen the feelings of despair and subdue the negative mood state, you may have found that your depression has got worse, as there is a negative interaction between drugs and depression.
Depression is a mental disorder where the brain is changed, and the neural pathways and activations of the brain in a depressed person are different to those found in a healthy brain. If you have experienced the symptoms of depression, such as low self-esteem, inability to concentrate and focus, suicidal thoughts, sleep problems, and the loss of desire to carry out formerly pleasurable activities, then this needs to be tackled in your drug rehabilitation process alongside your pattern of drug use. Drug rehab specialists will help you to understand the causes of your depression, and the causes of your drug use, so you can gain some control over both disorders.
Bipolar
If you have bipolar disorder, you will experience abnormal changes in mood, from depressive lows to manic highs, often lasting several months. Bipolar disorder is also referred to as manic depressive. There are various forms of bipolar disorder including bipolar I disorder, bipolar II disorder and cyclothymic disorder.
Due to the nature of bipolar disorder, there seem to be quite a high number of drug users with the condition. If you have bipolar disorder and have a drug problem, it’s important that both your drug use and your bipolar disorder are factored into your rehabilitation plan. If you have been recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, then you may feel a little overwhelmed. The process of rehab will help you to understand who you are, why you have behaved the way you did in the past, and put in place guiding principles and strategies to live a more fulfilling life after rehab./
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which you probably suffer from bouts of irrational thought and behaviour. You may experience hallucinations, difficulty paying attention and delusions. Schizophrenia distorts your ability to think, act and speak, and also affects your ability to understand your emotions. The nature of schizophrenia makes it dangerous when combined with drug abuse. However, research suggests that many people with schizophrenia seek out drug use in order to deal with the symptoms of their mental disorder. Unfortunately, drug use can also reduce the efficacy of schizophrenia medicines, leading to a worsening of your symptoms.
The rehabilitation process you will go through for schizophrenia and a drug problem will be different to the process for someone without a co-occurring mental disorder. Your treatment will involve tackling both disorders and may involve psychotherapy and medication to help with the detox process. Drug rehab with a dual diagnosis tends to be more complex than without, but it is designed to help you develop the skills, self-understanding and life code to change and adapt to a life in recovery.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]
Post-traumatic stress disorder occurs as a result of major trauma or a frightening event in the past. If you have PTSD, then you may experience flashbacks, anxiety and excessive fear. The symptoms of PTSD are grouped into four main areas, which are negative changes in mood, intrusive memories, changes in physical and emotional reactions, and avoidance behaviours. Due to the nature of post-traumatic stress disorder, it is easy to see why you may seek out drug use in order to cope with the symptoms. The trouble is that using illegal drugs is not an adaptive solution and doesn’t tackle the underlying cause of your mental disorder; in fact, it usually makes your PTSD symptoms worse.
Drug rehabilitation is a process where you will follow certain steps, including detoxification, counselling and the learning of new skills for life. Through the counselling process, you will also tackle the causes of your PTSD in order to better understand yourself, and better control your life after rehab.
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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder [OCD]
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental health disorder where you may have obsessive fears, which may manifest with you displaying compulsive behaviours that affect your daily life. The most common example of OCD is when you wash your hands obsessively due to a fear of germs.
OCD is often associated with alcohol use disorder, as you may turn to alcohol to escape from your compulsive behaviour. Alcohol use often ends up worsening the condition.
In any rehabilitation process, professionals will seek to understand the underlying cause of your fear and obsessive behaviour, and both your alcohol use and your disorder will be treated in an appropriate way, factoring in all aspects of the dual diagnosis.
Any rehabilitation process for a dual diagnosis situation will mean that you have both conditions treated so that the root causes of addiction can be understood and you can begin a journey to a healthier life over which you have more control.
Where Can I Find Treatment for Drug Abuse?
If you have a substance abuse problem, we recommend that you check into a trusted and reliable addiction treatment centre or a rehabilitation centre near you. By choosing an inpatient rehabilitation centre, you’ll be able to benefit from 24 hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week care and will have access to medically assisted detox treatments. You will interact with other addicts on the path to recovery. If substance abuse has led you to this site, then get help from a drug rehabilitation specialist and begin the process of recovery.
The Process of Rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a process where you detox, become healthy, and go through individual and group counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy and other talking therapies in order to understand your past behaviours, take responsibility, and develop guiding principles for your life in society after rehab. Rehabilitation is split into several stages that you will go through as you enter and progress through rehab.
Assessment for Drug Rehab
The assessment stage in the rehabilitation process is a key stage. The rehab centre staff will want to understand certain information about you and your substance abuse problem. This enables them to provide a proper diagnosis, check for any complications, and decide on the best rehab treatment course for you to follow.
The assessment is completed through medical tests and counselling. There are certain details the rehab centre will require, including the severity of your condition, any family history of addiction, your personal drug use history, and the financial plans for your treatment. Following assessment, the rehab treatment and assessment team will plot the best course to employ for your recovery.
Admission to Rehab
In some rehabilitation centres, the assessment stage and admission stage are combined. The admission stage covers all steps and plans taken towards obtaining the best form of treatment. You can, during this stage, weigh up the various rehab centre options available to you and choose what you think would be best. Of course, you will be guided by the experts who will lay out the options to you. The big decision you will need to make is between inpatient or outpatient treatment programmes.
Some of the factors you’ll need to consider when making your decision of rehab centre and programme include the location, the cost, and the types of treatment available. You may want to understand the privacy policy of the rehab centre you are looking at. During the actual rehab process, the rehab centre will review the information they have about you. They may require a second assessment before full admission.
Medical Detox from Substance Dependence
The detox stage is necessary in order to remove all of the substance from your body. You are likely to develop withdrawal symptoms and may encounter post-acute withdrawal syndrome [PAWS] at this stage.
The process of detoxification will depend on the drug you have abused, your metabolism, how long you have been abusing drugs, the dosages of drugs, and any other addictions or co-occurring mental disorders. Many rehabs will incorporate medications into the detoxification process to lessen the severity of the withdrawal symptoms and make you more comfortable, this will be decided during your assessment by the doctor. Due to the nature of the drug detoxification process, and the fact that you will suffer withdrawal symptoms, it’s important that you are protected from the temptation to relapse. The detox process is carried out in a rehab centre with supervising medical practitioners.
Ongoing Rehabilitation
After the detoxification process, you should be physically free from the substance. Overcoming the withdrawal symptoms is a positive first step. However, you then need to go through an ongoing rehabilitation process in order to deal with the mental and psychological addiction, and tackle the underlying reasons behind why you became addicted in the first place.
For effective rehabilitation, the rehab centre may utilise some forms of therapy, such as individual therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and psychotherapy, group therapy and even family therapy. The therapies will look at causal factors, and provide you with practical tools and thinking strategies, rebuilding your mental framework, so that you can resist urges and overcome temptation after you leave rehab. The emotional support of your family and friends will be highly beneficial throughout your ongoing rehabilitation, and as you graduate from rehab.
Graduation from Rehab
The graduation stage signifies the start of your new life. Your life outside the rehab centre in society will be reassessed, and proper help offered to help you create a stable drug-free lifestyle. You will then complete the administrative requirements and process for graduation. The graduation process itself brings to an end your stay in the rehab centre. You’ll be drug-free, and you will have learned how to understand the causes of your addiction and will have in place better solutions to help you avoid relapsing back to destructive behaviours.
With proper aftercare planning, you will adapt to a new way of life. You will also have a plan for after-rehab care with your therapists and have the resources and information you need to attend Narcotics Anonymous and other group therapy options that can help you stay clean.
Aftercare and Ongoing Recovery
vercoming alcohol use disorder does not stop with leaving the rehabilitation centre. There is always the possibility that you may relapse, and so you need to have a plan following rehab.
During your aftercare programme, you may have outpatient care, residence in a halfway house so that you can slowly integrate back into society, regular sessions with the facility counsellor, and regular participation in twelve-step programme meetings and group sessions. All of the activities are targeted towards helping you avoid and successfully adapt to triggers that could cause you to relapse.
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Different Types of Treatment
There are different factors to consider before choosing a rehab centre. Some of these factors include the cost of treatment, the location of the rehab centre and the types of rehabilitation programmes that the rehab facility has to offer. It is also important to check for the accreditation of the facility, the staff ratio and to understand how long the rehabilitation process is likely to take.
Most rehab centres offer different treatment options. These include community-based programmes, outpatient programmes, residential programmes and quasi-residential programmes. The type of programme you go for will depend on your relationship with the drug, any co-occurring mental disorders, and your personal situation. The treatment approaches employed may include cognitive behavioural therapy and pharmaceutical treatment.
Quasi-Residential
Quality-residential rehab treatment offers a more flexible rehab programme than a fully residential treatment programme. You move into a rehab run residence but can go to work from there. There are fewer restrictions and controls on activities and lifestyle than in an inpatient drug rehab facility.
Quasi-residential rehabilitation is sometimes recommended for the cases of substance addiction where you can self-manage, but where you still need proper monitoring within a sober environment; you don’t have a strict routine as you may have with inpatient treatment, but you are checked and helped daily throughout the rehab process.
A quasi-residential programme is also a good option for after you have completed rehab, were you learn to live and adapt back to daily life in society. Quasi-residential locations offer a more controlled environment than home, where you aren’t going to experience so many triggers and others around you are on a similar journey of recovery.
Outpatient Treatment
Outpatient rehab programmes are normally for people who can maintain a measure of control in their home environment while they go through a rehabilitation process. You will go to work and carry out normal daily activities, and then attend the rehab for therapy sessions. You will have a set programme with specific intervals between visits and a structured plan to work through on your journey of recovery.
One major benefit of outpatient rehab programmes is that the entire detox and rehab process are done at your convenience. Your life will be less disrupted as you learn to change your responses to situations and adapt your thinking to a new way of life. Outpatient rehab isn’t suitable for everyone. If your substance withdrawal symptoms are severe, then it is normally best to opt for inpatient rehab.
Inpatient Rehab
An inpatient treatment programme, also known as a residential rehab programme, requires admission into a rehab centre. This is recommended in cases where you may be a danger to yourself, are likely to relapse, or are going to experience severe withdrawal symptoms. The rehab centre staff set and control your routine and activities, all geared towards speeding up your recovery process.
A major benefit of inpatient rehab programmes is that the rehab facility is able to observe and manage you throughout the day and night, offering medically assisted detoxification and helping you deal with post-acute withdrawal syndrome. Inpatient rehab can make the process of rehabilitation more comfortable, and help you have a more positive experience at the start of your recovery.
What Does Drug Addiction Treatment Involve?
The type of treatment you have for your drug addiction will depend on the length of time you have been taking a drug, the type or types of drug you have been taking, the amounts of drug you have taken in dosages, any co-occurring mental disorders, and your personal physiology and belief system. If the drug you are addicted to is highly addictive, and comes with severe withdrawal symptoms, it is likely you will go through a medically assisted detoxification stage. This will ensure that the drugs leave your system and that you are safe through the process.
You will also undergo various counselling and therapy programmes to help you understand why you started using drugs, the triggers and habits you have developed around drugs, and how you can live by different guiding principles in the future. A big part of the drug addiction treatment will involve you looking inwards and understanding more about yourself, so that you can take responsibility for the past and live with responsibility in the future. Drug addiction treatment is not designed to cure an addiction. Drug addiction treatment will provide you with tools to live a productive life despite addiction.
The counselling and therapies incorporated into drug addiction treatment may involve cognitive behavioural therapy, psychotherapy, biofeedback therapy, family therapy, holistic therapy, and even activities such as yoga. The goal of rehab is to help you develop yourself to a stage where you can live a life in control.
Group Therapy
In most rehab settings, group therapy will be an important part of your rehab process. During inpatient and outpatient group therapy, you will be amongst other addicts and will share stories and experiences. You will discuss the struggles that you have had with substances and in other areas of your life, and the process will help you vocalise and understand the choices you have made and the causes of your destructive behaviours of the past.
Group therapy is a supportive environment filled with encouragement and empathy, where you learn from other on a similar journey of recovery. After you graduate from rehab, you will be encouraged to continue attending group therapy sessions and to develop a support network that will help you maintain sobriety.
Personal Therapy
Self-analysis and self-realisation are crucial steps on your recovery path. Individual therapy is used through therapeutic strategies such as cognitive behavioural therapy to help identify triggers, thought patterns, beliefs and mental heuristics that have supported your addiction in the past. In personal therapy, you are taught to learn and dedicate your time to new interests and hobbies. You’ll learn to understand what may cause you to relapse into drug addiction and to avoid or control those situations. Personal therapy works well when combined with other talking therapies and holistic treatments.
Medication
Meditation is regarded as an alternative and complementary approach to addiction treatment. It is utilised alongside other drug treatments and some have found that it can influence recovery in a positive way. The idea of rehabilitation is to help you get to a stage where you can live a new type of life free from drugs, and that means improving your physical and mental health. Meditation can help you relax, clear your mind, and gain perspective.
Meditation also reduces blood pressure, has been shown to reduce depressive symptoms, can enhance the immune system, can reduce stress, and can help you relax and even sleep. The fact that you can take meditation with you into society after rehab makes it a useful tool, and you may learn skills such as muscle relaxation, movement meditation and breathing exercises.
Twelve-Step Work
The twelve-step process was created by Alcoholics Anonymous to provide a guideline for alcohol addiction recovery. The process has been around a long time and has been adopted by other groups such as Cocaine Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. These groups operate based on a 12-step process.
Twelve-step work has proven a useful framework for drug rehabilitation and recovery. It encourages you to understand that you have lost control over your drug related behaviours, that you have made mistakes in the past, and that you need to change. It helps you to make amends with those that you have wronged in the past, develop a new set of guiding principles for your life and acknowledge that a higher power can heal you.
Even though the twelve-step process has a heavy spiritual focus, it may be helpful for you overcoming addiction even if you are not religious. Your drug rehabilitation treatment will be planned to work with your belief system to ensure that you are comfortable with the lessons and tools that you learn in rehabilitation treatment.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy [CBT]
Cognitive behavioural therapy is a form of treatment that can help you to address and overcome problematic thinking patterns that have led to compulsive and destructive behaviours in the past. CBT can help you find the connection between your feelings, thoughts and actions and how they impact on your recovery. Cognitive behavioural therapy is also a tool that is used if you need treatment for co-occurring mental disorders after a dual diagnosis. CBT is used for bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
When you are undergoing cognitive behaviour therapy, you are able to revisit painful memories and learn to deal with them. When you undergo cognitive behavioural therapy, you’ll be taught effective communication skills that will help you to stay away from triggers that could cause you to relapse. During this type of therapy, faulty beliefs that you have developed due to a mental disorder will be addressed and you will work through understanding and incorporating new beliefs into your mental makeup.
What Happens after Rehab?
After rehab, you’ll have to adapt to normal life in society. As an addict living in recovery, you’ll find that there are triggers and temptations that may encourage you towards behaviours that will lead to a relapse. An aftercare plan will help you be positive and strong, to keep busy, to avoid your triggers, and to manage your emotions. In some cases, the rehab centre may encourage you to change your environment, whether that be your home environment or your work environment, especially if there is a strong connection between them and your reasons for substance use.
Addiction recovery is a lifelong process and requires a regular process of self- review and an excellent support network. You may stay in touch with the rehab centre, have family counselling so that the important people in your life can understand what you are going through, and join support groups where you can get the encouragement you need on a regular basis.
Support for Families
Drug addiction has a major impact on your family. There may have been situations where you were violent, and there may have been severe emotional strain put on relationships. For these reasons, during inpatient and outpatient treatment programmes, there are specific family programmes that help to mend the divide that may have been created.
There are also support groups that you and your family can attend after rehab as you reconstruct the dynamics of your relationships. Family support groups can help you all to overcome feelings of anger, guilt, shame and grief that may have evolved during your addiction process; and may not have been resolved before you went into rehab.
Some of the support groups for families include Narcotics Anonymous, Al-anon, Families Anonymous and Smart Recovery. These family-focused drug support groups can help provide healing and closure, and help everyone to understand each other better, developing a new perspective on the past and the future.
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FAQ
Is drug rehab free?
There are rehab centres that offer free detox and rehab programmes. These are generally sponsored by NGOs and groups who want to reach out to addicts that cannot afford rehab. In addition, health insurance will often cover some or all aspects of a drug rehabilitation process, so if you have health insurance privately or with a company, it’s well worth checking what is included. There are also free drug rehab programmes available through the NHS, and you can get a referral from a GP onto one of these.
What is drug rehab like?
The process of drug rehab is meant to offer you total rehabilitation and leave you with feelings of well-being. The process is broken down into stages. The first stage of drug rehab involves comprehensive screening, during which you will undergo assessments, evaluations and medical tests. You are then admitted into rehab to undergo a detox process. After detoxification, the main thrust of rehab will be counselling and therapy and developing positive, healthy behaviours to live a drug-free life. After the rehab process is complete, you’ll be discharged with a plan of aftercare to continue with as you live life in recovery.
How long do I need to stay in rehab?
The length of your rehab stay will depend on several factors, such as the type of treatment you opt for, the duration of your alcohol use disorder, and whether there are co-occurring mental disorders in the picture. Generally, alcohol rehabilitation takes between 30 and 90 days.
Can I rehab at home?
It is possible to rehab at home but it’s not always advisable.
Alcohol rehabilitation usually results in alcohol withdrawal symptoms, which for some can be strong. Additionally, home-based rehabilitation tends to be less effective because you are embedded in the environment in which you developed your alcohol use disorder.
If your work schedule or daily routine does not allow you to go for full inpatient treatment rehab, you may want to consider outpatient rehab, or quasi-residential rehab.
During outpatient rehab, you can live at home, but you will follow a treatment path prescribed by an addiction treatment specialist. In quasi-residential treatment, you will live in a sober living house.
Can I leave the drug rehab centre?
While some rehab centres offer a level of flexibility in movement, most centres have strict rehab policies regarding movement during your recovery treatment. In some rehab centres, you won’t be able to terminate the programme, especially if yours is an intervention case. In some other centres you can elect to end the programme if you no longer feel comfortable with it.
In addition, some rehab is completed on an outpatient basis where you have much more flexibility over how you live your life during the drug rehabilitation programme. Inpatient programmes tend to be moresupervised and controlled, and your schedule is going to be more imposed on you during treatment.
The level of flexibility you have will be down to the treatment programme and type of treatment you opt for. It’s worth getting advice so that you can make a good decision, because it may well be that you need more supervision and control in order to break free from your addiction; even though this doesn’t necessarily seem the most appealing option right now.
Can you drink after drug rehab?
Drug and alcohol affect the body in similar ways. Therefore, it is considered risky to drink alcohol after rehab. Drinking alcohol can also lead to the risk of cross-addiction, where you can end up dependent on alcohol instead of drugs to feel better and end up switching addictions. You need to realise that alcohol is a drug and is addictive. It is best to stay away from all addictive substances during and immediately after rehab. It is also important that you understand the risks of drinking at any stage during recovery, which means any time for the rest of your life.
How does rehab work?
The goal of alcohol rehab is to help you overcome the urge for alcohol and live a sober life. This involves a series of programmes and activities geared towards identifying and treating the causes of your alcohol addiction. Every alcohol addict is different, and you will go through a personalised programme to help you gain the tools that you need to live an alcohol-free life in society. During the addiction rehab, you should expect personal and group therapy sessions, a detoxification process, perhaps including medically supported detoxification, and other health and wellness treatments that will help you live a healthy life after rehab.
How effective is drug rehab?
Many factors affect the success rate of rehab programmes. If you sign up for an outpatient treatment programme and do not complete the programme,your likelihood of success will not be very high. With inpatient treatment programmes, there is a lot more control, and it tends to be the case that you will get better outcomes down the line and will have the ability to resist relapse to a greater degree. The efficacy of drug rehab is, at the end of the day, down to you, and your willingness to change and live a new sober life.
When does drug rehab work?
Rehabilitation works best when you are genuinely committed to staying sober. Without a certain level of commitment, there is a high chance that you will relapse after or even during the programme. The quality of staff and the kind of drug rehab programme will also influence the success of the treatment intervention. You need to accept that the drug rehab process is there to give you what you need to live a life that is productive and clean. It is up to you to take the lessons, change yourself, and make good decisions about how you behave in the future.
Why drug rehab doesn’t work for everyone
Drug rehab may not work if you are not committed to maintaining sobriety, especially if you signed up for rehab with the wrong motives. Drug rehab may also not work if you have become accustomed to the process, or if you don’t have adequate family and emotional support. Your personal belief system has got you to where you are in life and may well have skewed through your time using drugs. It’s therefore important that you understand that to get and stay clean you need to change the way you think and the way you live.