Dual Diagnosis Treatment Centers
What are Co-occurring Disorders?
The term co-occurring disorder, or dual diagnosis, describes an individual who simultaneously suffers from mental health illness and substance abuse problems. Mental health disorders and addictions generally go hand-in-hand. Alcohol and drug abuse commonly co-occur with anxiety, schizophrenia, and depression.
In the past, substance abuse and mental illness were treated as 2 separate entities in 2 separate facilities and almost always led to a relapse. Through years of research, field professionals now know and understand mental health issues and substance abuse must be treated at the same time in order for the patient to successfully attain sobriety. Silver Linings Recovery Center’s co-occurring treatment center in Bucks County, PA and Mercer County, NJ offers a full range of treatment services.
Dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorders, pose unique problems in the substance abuse recovery process. A person has a dual diagnosis when an addiction disorder occurs at the same time as another mental health condition such as depression.
Often the pain and challenges caused by a mental health disorder can cause someone to self-medicate with substances like heroin and/or alcohol. Soon this self-medication forms a separate condition, addiction.
But, at Silver Linings Recovery Center, we are fully qualified to help you start your road to recovery whether or not you have a dual diagnosis. There are many mental health conditions that can lead someone to develop an addiction disorder. Some of these conditions are:
Dual Diagnosis Treatment Services
Getting a Psychiatric Evaluation
The most important part of our co-occurring treatment is to properly and accurately diagnose the patients. Our professional assessors will go through a full and detailed evaluation, which will identify current mental health symptoms and any other issues that may be an obstacle on the clients’ path to recovery. We must ensure all mental health disorders are diagnosed in order to create the most successful treatment plan.
Do I Need a Professional Assessment in Order to Start Treatment?
At Silver Linings Recovery Center our highly trained assessment professionals will fully evaluate you and assess your needs. This way we can confidently and successfully start a holistic treatment plan that will help you start on your long-lasting road to recovery.
Our professional assessors will go through a full and detailed evaluation, which will identify any current mental health symptoms and any other issues that may be overlooked that could be an obstacle on the clients’ path to recovery. We must ensure all mental health disorders are diagnosed in order to create the most successful treatment plan.
The evaluation takes a close look at you as a person. We do not rely solely on recorders created by other assessment professionals. Instead, we start from the beginning in order to provide a holistic treatment plan that is right for you.
Medication Management for Dual Diagnosis, Co-Occurring Disorders
This is the process of managing patients’ medication. This is a very important and delicate aspect of co-occurring treatment services. While we cannot take a mental health patient off of their medicine, our recovery center will teach patients how to manage their doses and effectively use doctor prescribed medicine.
Managing your medication, the first few weeks might seem very simple. However, it can become much more difficult in the long term. Some psychiatric medications need to be taken with food and some need to be taken at a certain time every day.
Living an active life on your road to recovery can sometimes make this complicated. You might forget your medication at home, forget to take it, or otherwise miss a dose. We will help you find strategies that will help you develop and enact a plan if you are in a situation where you forgot your medication, you tend to forget your medication, and/or any other situations you might encounter that might keep you from getting your medication.
While working with you in our treatment facility we will help you work with medical professionals to find the right balance of medication if needed. For some people with a mental health disorder, certain medications might start to work in a matter of days.
However, some medication may take a longer amount of time to truly become completely effective. Our specialists will help you navigate these possible uncertainties with confidence that your needs are being met.
Medication-Assisted Treatment for Addiction
Medication management is a separate program from Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) or medication-assisted therapy. Medication management helps patients come up with strategies that they can stick to in order to consistently take any medications that they are prescribed by professionals such as antidepressants and antianxiety medications. MAT uses medication to ease the person onto their road to recovery for a short period of time to longer periods. We offer both programs.
How Trauma Can Lead to Substance Abuse
In many cases, we find that a combination of life-altering experiences contributes to a person turning to drugs and/or alcohol to cope. Sexual and/or physical abuse, wartime, and near-death experiences can all lead to the urge to abuse substances. Whether or not you pair trauma with another mental health issue a significant substance abuse problem can develop fast.
At Silver Linings Recovery Center, we focus on helping our patients deal with trauma by using therapy and other tools to help patients begin to overcome their trauma and start to heal. Only when this is done can clients focus on and sustain long-term recovery.
Silver Linings Provides Trauma Informed Care
When treating someone who needs trauma-informed care, we take a special approach that is best suited to help people who have experienced trauma. Not all clinics are set up to treat patients who need trauma-informed care, and like other mental health treatments, trauma treatment will play a significant role in fully starting your road to recovery.
Trauma can sometimes come from unexpected places. What may be seen as normal for one person can cause someone else more extreme problems. The human brain is delicate and not everyone had the same make-up. You might also need trauma-informed care due to experiences you may have had during your time of active substance abuse.
Some mental illnesses and traumas are present for years before the person finally goes down the road to addiction. Some people who have lived with mental health disorders for years will be told that the symptoms they display are just part of who they are as a person. Besides being unhelpful, it does not encourage people to seek proper medical help to receive their symptoms which often leads the person to self-medicate.
Common Questions about Co-Occurring Disorders
Will Treatment for my Addiction Disorder Help My Other Mental Health Disorders?
Treatment will only be effective if it addresses all of the co-occurring disorders. In other words, addiction treatment can help those who have co-occurring mental health disorders, but only if the treatment addresses both of these issues.
The original mental health condition(s) are still present if the person only receives treatment for their addiction disorder. A person with a substance use disorder will still continue to struggle with the pain of the original mental health condition in its untreated form unless they receive proper medical help.
Self-medication will not lessen the symptoms of the underlying disorder(s) or provide any long-lasting solution. In other words, the original drive to self-medicate will still be there. It works the other way too.
Someone with a co-occurring disorder cannot get treatment for their underlying condition(s) and start their road to recovery from active addiction without receiving treatment for the addiction as well.
Addiction from self-medication is intertwined with the underlying cause of the addiction. So, they should be treated simultaneously. If someone does not treat their co-occurring mental health disorder(s) along with their addiction disorder they will virtually always find themselves relapsing into active addiction.
Can Misdiagnosing a Mental Health Disorder be Harmful if You Have an Addiction Disorder?
One reason that someone might try to self-medicate is their underlying mental health condition is not being properly treated. Sometimes it might not be accurately diagnosed either. Substance abuse can change the way that some other mental health disorder looks to doctors and other assessment 
professionals.
Sometimes there is more than one underlying mental health disorder that the person with a substance use disorder is trying to compensate for. In many instances improper treatment can make the problems worse.
Some mental health conditions will look similar to other mental health conditions, especially when there is an addiction disorder present. What might look like schizophrenia to some health professionals because of hallucinations and/or delusions might actually be psychotic depression instead. These two disorders require radically different treatments.
It is important that you have a specialized mental health professional diagnose you. Since mental health conditions can ‘mimic’ each other, diagnosis is often not easy. This is often even more confusing when an addiction disorder is present and adds its own symptoms while changing others.
Someone who is not certified to diagnose mental health conditions might make a mistake. This is one of the reasons that it is very important to not self-diagnose. Our assessment professionals have proper training and extensive experience relating to mental health conditions including addiction.
Can Using the Wrong Medication Hurt My Recovery Process?
It is absolutely important to discuss medication options with a professional who understands the addiction recovery process in addition to mental illness. Certain medications may prove to do more harm than good. So, it is best to talk about any medications, treatments, and other components with someone who is knowledgeable and certified.
One of the most important parts of treating co-occurring disorders properly is accurately diagnosing the patients. Some patients who have their original mental health condition(s) mismanaged may be incorrectly diagnosed.
One of the most commonly overlooked conditions is bipolar disorder. Many people who are originally diagnosed as depressed may actually suffer from bipolar disorder. In some cases, the medication prescribed to people who are thought to have depression can react negatively to people who are bipolar.
In conclusion, seeking treatment for dual diagnosis is crucial for individuals struggling with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. At Silver Linings Recovery Center, we offer comprehensive dual diagnosis treatment that addresses both the mental health and addiction aspects of our clients’ conditions. Our experienced and compassionate team of professionals works with each client to develop a personalized treatment plan that meets their unique needs and goals. We are committed to providing a safe and supportive environment where clients can heal and achieve lasting recovery. Contact us today to learn more about our dual diagnosis treatment program and start your journey to a healthier, happier life.
Silver Linings Recovery Center’s co-occurring treatment program includes highly qualified clinical and psychiatric medical treatment staff members. Each of them is trained and competent in providing counseling for clients who are addressing co-occurring disorders. Call 844-546-4644 to start the admissions process today.