Originally Posted by TomsGirl
Now, one condition starts to feed off the other. He's feeling depressed, so he drinks. In a lucid moment he realizes that he's tied to the bottle and that thought makes him depressed, so he drinks. It becomes a viscious cycle and if he ever has any desire to seriously recover both conditions must be recognized, treated, and controlled. All prescriptions for anti-depressants say "Don't take with alcohol". That's because they don't work with alcohol. Might as well take sugar pills if drink with them as they won't do anything for you.
Thanks for bringing this up. My daughter is also "dual diagnosis" She has borderline personality disorder and she is an alcoholic.
A dual diagnosis complicates matters for the alcoholic. It makes it so much more difficult for them to stay sober because in many cases, they are drinking to medicate the mental illness. And then there is the issue of meds.
Some of the meds they gave my daughter this year actually made her more psychotic, and she ended up in a psych ward for a week. (we think she reacted badly to one specific medication)
In addition to all this, many folks refuse to acknowledge that they suffer from mental illness. My daughter admits she is an alcoholic, but refuses to accept that she has a mental illness, even though it was diagnosed when she was in the psych ward this year.
It's just adds to the difficulties and complications.
Robin