A substance use disorder coupled with one or more mental health disorders can cause significant damage to your life. The process of recovery for clients with dual diagnosis has to be medical, educational, and therapeutic in order to take root. At Georgetown Behavioral Hospital, our dual diagnosis treatment center in Georgetown, Ohio successfully treats mental health disorders and co-occurring substance use disorders using a multi-faceted approach that takes into consideration the uniqueness of each individual.
What Is Dual Diagnosis Treatment?
Often, those with mental illness turn to substance abuse to self-medicate. However, these drugs only make them feel better temporarily, without addressing the root issue causing their mental stress. Because the effects wear off, they find themselves using substances repeatedly to alleviate the symptoms of their mental illness, leading to the development of a substance use disorder.
In 2018, an estimated 8.5 million people had a co-occurring illness alongside their substance abuse issues, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. A total of one out of four people with a mental health disorder had an addiction. Unfortunately, when people went to get treatment, fewer than nine percent of people received treatment for both disorders.
When issues such as trauma, depression, and anxiety are left untreated, the risk of relapse increases. Drugs, alcohol or other compulsive behaviors may dull the symptoms of depression or anxiety for a while, but they return along with new problems. If you have co-occurring disorders and you only tackle the substance use disorder, you may return home and feel compelled to self-medicate.
A dual diagnosis treatment center helps people get treatment for mental illness and substance abuse issues at the same time. Some of the most common mental health disorders diagnosed in combination with a substance abuse issue include anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and personality disorders. Especially in combination with alcohol or drug abuse, these conditions can compound each other and drastically lower your quality of life.
Successful mental health and addiction treatment in a dual diagnosis rehab center is designed to address all of these factors and get those struggling with mental health issues and substance abuse back on their feet. That’s where our team of doctors, psychiatrists, nurses, and other clinical care can help.
Our Dual Diagnosis Treatment Program
When you enter our dual diagnosis treatment center, you immediately undergo an assessment for your addiction and mental condition. This assessment helps the medical professionals who are treating and supporting you understand your treatment needs. It also helps them create your individual treatment plan.
If you suffer alcohol dependence or drug addiction, you need medically supervised detox first. This initial step into your dual diagnosis treatment ends your physical need for drugs or alcohol, for your brain to function normally. Once your brain starts managing its own chemical balance and your body is free of toxins, you feel ready for rehab treatment.
In rehab, your real recovery begins. This dual diagnosis program is where you learn about your co-occurring conditions and what makes them flare up. You gain help for your mental health problem in the same types of therapy as you gain for substance abuse recovery.
Your most important role at a dual diagnosis treatment center is that of learning about your co-occurring conditions and how to keep them under control. Learning coping skills, stress management strategies, and relapse prevention techniques while working with medical professionals and others with substance abuse issues is an important step in ensuring that the healthy changes you make here, stick.
Evidence-Based Therapies For Addiction & Mental Health Disorders
At Georgetown Behavioral Hospital, we believe that the process of recovery has to be medical, educational, and therapeutic in order to take root. As part of participating in our excellent residential program, clients with co-occurring disorders receive specialized care by our certified medical and clinical staff who work together to correctly diagnose and treat underlying mental health disorders that may otherwise create barriers to success.
With our proven, evidence-based treatment modalities, our team helps our patients make full recoveries. These treatments include:
- Psychiatric Assessment: The first step on the path back to health is to meet with an experienced mental health professional and discuss the state of your mental health. Afterwards, they work with you to design personalized goals and a treatment plan.
- Nutritional Consultations: Proper nutrition and exercise programs are provided to help your body and mind heal from dual diagnosis disorders. Here, you and one of our highly trained care staff members will discuss your dietary habits and create a plan for healthy nutrition going forward.
- Group Therapy: In group therapy, you’ll get to talk with others going through similar situations and help each other through recovery. Group therapy helps our clients process their emotions in a safe and open group setting, which encourages positive listening skills and shared accountability.
- Recreational Therapy: This evidence-based treatment helps patients develop life skills that will help them remain healthy and independent after completing treatment.
- 12-Step Programs: By following the 12 steps, patients begin working on a path to long-term sobriety that will continue long after they’ve finished treatment.
Finding a Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center
If you want to change your life by overcoming your substance use disorder, then make a commitment today to get help. Addiction is a powerful, scary thing, and confronting it while dealing with mental illness can be difficult, but one of the biggest benefits of getting help at a dual diagnosis treatment center is that you do not have to face it alone. We are here for you, and we’re ready to help you take back control of your life.
With proper medication and therapy, we aid in the modification of a client’s thinking, attitude, and behavior. We are able to not only treat substance use disorders, but also co-occurring mental health issues. Within our structured, healing environment, we are able to ease clients into the significant lifestyle changes required for recovery.
For more information on dual diagnosis treatment as well as your options for recovery, reach out to the experts at Georgetown Behavioral Hospital by phone at 937-483-4930. Not quite ready to talk? You also have the option to submit a confidential contact form with your questions, concerns, and to share your story.
