Treating someone how has both a mental illness and drug addiction involves a multifaceted approach. First, both the addiction and illness need to be clearly defined. It is important to determine what behaviors are caused by which issue.

Treatment programs that deal with duel diagnosis patients usually attempt to get a full medical history for the patient by contacting their physician, because this helps them outline an individualized program for that patients unique needs. Often patients who have an existing mental health issue can be difficult to treat. They may be more prone to depressive episodes and harder to motivate towards therapeutic participation. Generally, individuals who have a dual diagnosis are best served in long term residential treatment facility. The typical stay in a long term residential treatment program ranges from six to twelve months. These programs usually employe a community approach in therapy and patients are helped to put their individual social and psychological problems into context using a variety of techniques. These programs are highly structured and help individuals work on personal accountability and also help them develop adequate life skills for coping after treatment is over. Often these programs offer other support services like job training to help candidates get back out into the world successfully upon completion of long term drug treatment.

Long term drug addiction treatment programs require a big commitment, but they have a lot to offer duel diagnosis drug addicts. It is important that duel diagnosis addicts speak with their counselor or physician so that they can help them select the correct long term substance abuse treatment program.

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