Treatment Centers for Dual Diagnosis

The term “dual diagnosis” is used when a patient exhibits both an addiction, such as alcoholism, and a mental illness, such as depression, anxiety attacks, or post-traumatic stress syndrome. There are a great many variations within this spectrum. Psychological disorders might be caused, wholly or in part, by substance abuse (the rage experienced by steroid users, for example) or by withdrawal symptoms (hallucinations and psychosis caused by heroin withdrawal). It is often difficult for a layman to differentiate. A true mental disorder such as clinical depression may seem similar to physical issues that result from the addiction, such as hangovers or the crash following the euphoria produced by many drugs.

Which problem came first varies from case to case. Often, substance abuse arises from the patient’s attempt to self-medicate for psychiatric disorders, as when a depressed person turns to alcohol or cocaine to feel livelier or an anxiety-ridden person uses tranquilizers and sedatives to calm down. For adolescents, the opposite is often true: they use the drugs or alcohol and then develop a dependency, which leads to mental disorders.

Dual diagnosis can be difficult to recognize, even for medical professionals. Often, the patient must undergo detox at a treatment center in order for a doctor to know whether there is a mental issue or a substance issue or both.

How Does a Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center Work?

The treatment for substance abuse and for some mental issues overlap in talk therapy. Individual, group and family counseling sessions can help the patient learn the underlying causes of both disorders and work on both simultaneously. However, it is best to choose a facility that specializes in working with dual diagnosis patients. You can find a listing of such treatment centers by using the filter under “Special Focus Programs” on our home page.

Making the Transition: Outpatient Treatment Centers

Residential treatment centers are the all-important first step toward recovery from an alcohol or drug addiction. During your time in residence, you are supervised 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Almost all of your time is scheduled. There are individual, group and family counseling sessions. There are probably twelve-step meetings to attend daily. There may be physical activities to help your body back to health. All of this supervision and scheduling not only helps in your recovery per se, but also makes you feel secure so that you can focus your attention on breaking your addiction.

Once the residential program is over, however, you may feel apprehensive about your ability to maintain sobriety without all that help. If you feel that it’s too soon for you to be thrown back into your everyday environment, with all its stresses, temptations and challenges, you might want to consider going to one of the many residential outpatient treatment centers that exist to help you make that transition.

Find Outpatient Treatment Centers To Help You Adjust

Outpatient facilities run the gamut from bare-bones dormitory style to luxury accommodations. What they all have in common is that they provide a place where you can make the transition to living on your own, yet have help available to it when you need it. Outpatient facilities have resident staff available, and generally provide transportation to AA or NA meetings. You share the facility with others who are also making the transition to sober living, and can find support from each other. Depending on how upscale the facility is, you may also find holistic treatments available, such as yoga, Pilate’s, gym equipment, nutritional counseling or massage.

Find an appropriate outpatient facility by looking under “Treatment Phases” on our home page.

Outpatient Treatment Centers in California

Outpatient treatment for substance abuse is appropriate for two types of clients. Those who have been through inpatient treatment will generally need outpatient support for a period of time while they readjust to life without drugs or alcohol. Others whose addictions were not deep-seated or of long duration may be able to recover without the necessity for residential treatment.

Many treatment centers in California have both inpatient and outpatient programs. This allows for a seamless transition for those who have been through residential treatment. Sober living communities and halfway houses provide the most supervision, while support groups and counseling are useful when the client has returned home.

Not every substance abuser needs long-term or residential treatment. If a person has recently begun abusing alcohol, for instance, and can stop without significant withdrawal symptoms, participation in Alcoholics Anonymous or another type of support group may be sufficient for recovery. Similarly, a teenager who smokes marijuana several times a week does not need the same kind of intervention as a chronic user who has been smoking throughout the day for years.

Prescription Drug Treatment Centers in California

Another type of client who can often benefit from outpatient treatment is the person addicted to prescription drugs. While abusers of prescription drugs may experience some of the same physical elements as users of illegal drugs such as heroin or cocaine, the psychological process is often very different. Prescription drug abusers may have begun using the drugs legitimately, but built up a tolerance and an addiction unwittingly. Outpatient treatment that includes instruction in pain management can often be very successful.

Of course, some who abuse prescription drugs do so knowingly, with the intent to get high. If the client has a long history of this kind of abuse, or has built up a significant tolerance, then detox and a residential program at one of the many inpatient treatment centers in California is the preferred approach.

Find Top Rehab Centers in California

Perhaps it’s not surprising that California has more than its share of the top rehab centersin the United States. For one thing, the exceptional climate and, in many cases, proximity to the ocean have therapeutic aspects in and of themselves. More important, however, is the fact that the lifestyle in such urban centers as Los Angeles and San Francisco often enables and even seems to encourage substance abuse, whether that be alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, prescription drugs or opiates. Furthermore, while there are certainly a great many substance abusers in the lower socioeconomic classes, California is home to celebrities and high-powered executives who want to rehabilitate themselves in comfortable and private settings.

Top Rehab Centers in California for High-Profile Clients

Many of the top rehab centers in California offer the kind of amenities one might expect to find at a high-end hotel. Fine dining, state-of-the-art gym facilities, heated pools, stunning views and even spa treatments are common to such locations. Recovery from substance abuse is a difficult, uncomfortable process, and these rehab centers realize that it’s important to make their clients as comfortable as possible while going through it. They also maintain the credo that their function is not to punish clients for their addictions, but to help them recover with dignity and respect.

Privacy is another very important aspect of the top California rehab centers. They know that careers are on the line, in addition to all the other issues that substance abusers must deal with. If you are looking for a rehab center that will zealously guard your privacy and make you feel comfortable, look through our California listings.

Most people don’t recognize a need for drug rehab until their lives are in shambles. Often it takes an outside force, such as family members or a professional intervention to get someone into drug rehab for alcoholism or drug addiction treatment. It may even take a series of hospital visits, run-ins with the law or the overdose of a friend to recognize the need for drug rehab.

Recognizing When You Need Drug Rehab

The most obvious sign is your personal appearance and your surroundings. When people have fallen into alcoholism or drug addiction, getting the drink or the drug becomes the most important thing in their lives. It’s more important than food, sleep, school, work, relationships, family members or any other number of responsibilities that go with daily life. Recognizing you need drug rehab may start with a look in the mirror.
Again, it’s typically others who will recognize when you need drug rehab before you do. Alcoholism and drug addiction carry the major symptom of denial, which makes it difficult to see how much the drink or the drug is taking over your life. Loss of interest in normal activities and hobbies, falling off in school or work performance, changing your friends (lower companions), changes in appetite and appearance all indicate a personality change brought on by alcohol or drug addiction.

What to Do When You Recognize a Need for Drug Rehab

Whether it’s you or someone you love who needs drug rehab, the most important thing you can do is pick up the phone and call drug rehab centers for information on how to get help. Don’t wait until it gets worse because you never know when the next drink or hit will be the last one. For most people struggling with addiction, drug rehab is a scary thought. It means giving up the drug and learning how to cope without it. Talking to an intake coordinator at a drug rehab center can help guide you on the right path to getting help. They are trained to help break through the denial that often gets in the way of recognizing a need for drug rehab. Research a variety of drug rehabs and choose the one that is right for you. The most important thing you can do for yourself and those you love is to admit you need drug rehab, and take the help that’s offered.