Dual Diagnosis
The term dual diagnosis is
often used interchangeably with the terms co-morbidity and
co-occurring illnesses. A dual diagnosis occurs when an
individual is affected by both chemical dependency and an
emotional or psychiatric illness. Both illnesses may affect
an individual physically, psychologically, socially, and
spiritually. Each illness has symptoms that interfere with a
person’s ability to function effectively and relate to
themselves and others. Not only is the individual affected
by two separate illnesses, both illnesses interact with one
another. The illnesses may exacerbate each other and each
disorder predisposes to relapse in the other disease. At
times the symptoms can overlap and even mask each other
making diagnosis and treatment more difficult.
Patients who experience a dual
diagnosis often face a wide range of psychosocial issues and
may experience multiple interacting illnesses. We pay
special attention to dually diagnosed patients in all our
programs. Psychiatrists with dual diagnosis experience are
the major component of our treatment teams whereby, they
provide services and direct interventions as needed to the
patient. An assessment is made to determine what program is
best for each patient, but we are able to move patient from
one program to the other based on treatment needs.
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