If you live in Ohio with a substance use disorder involving alcohol or drugs, there is a high risk that you might also be struggling with a mental or behavioral health disorder much at the same time. When this happens, it is known as a dual diagnosis - or addiction with another co-occurring mental health disorder.
While struggling with co-occurring disorders, there is a high likelihood that you will often experience complications when you get started on the treatment and recovery process. This is particularly true if you have not been diagnosed properly or you do not receive all the treatment services that you need.
To this end, it is of crucial importance that you undergo thorough assessment and evaluation by addiction and mental health professionals when you first seek treatment for either your substance abuse or mental illness. This way, the professionals might be able to determine if you are living with a dual diagnosis in Ohio.
In Ohio - like in the rest of the United States - drug abuse and addiction is typically a manifestation of another mood or mental health disorder - such as an eating disorder, an attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, or anxiety.
Also known as dual diagnosis, this condition occurs when you are living with a substance use disorder or addiction as well as a co-occurring mental health disorder. Reports from 2014 released by SAMHSA - the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - show that co-occurring disorders are so common that more than 7.9 million Americans have them.
However, if you get both of these issues addressed at the same time, it would be possible for treatment professionals to identify the problem that underlies the other. This way, they would be in a better position to offer you more comprehensive treatment services to ensure that you achieve long term recovery in the long term. This would work much more effectively than if you only got the symptoms of one of these issues managed.
But which mental illnesses tend to occur among people abusing drugs and alcohol in Ohio? Research studies report that anxiety, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression are the most common.
Even so, mental illness tends to occur so often with addiction and substance abuse that it can be close to impossible to determine the disorder that came first. In reality, however, these disorders would typically develop alongside each other.
In some cases, if you are living in Ohio with a mental illness like PTSD, anxiety, or depression, you might turn to alcohol and drugs to self-medicate. This is because you would be trying to deal with all the challenges that arise from your mental illness.
In your mind, these intoxicating substances could prove useful because they can make you feel better, manage your pain, calm your nerves, and help to relieve some of the symptoms of your mental health disorder.
However, if you start using drugs and drinking alcohol to fulfil any of these needs, you will soon find yourself struggling with even more needs. Over time, for instance, you might develop tolerance. As a result, you would have to take these substances in higher doses or more frequently than you used to before you can experience their calming and pleasurable effects.
Eventually, tolerance will give rise to the development of dependence. When you get to this point, you would already be living with a dual diagnosis of substance abuse and addiction and a co-occurring mental health disorder.
In other instances, however, alcohol and drug abuse can cause you to develop mental health disorders - or at least exasperate these disorders if they were already existed before you start taking these substances.
There are also certain substances of abuse that could worsen or cause you to develop anxiety and depression. Others can lead to the development of adverse psychological side effects and symptoms - including psychosis and hallucinations. In all of these cases, the addiction could be the cause of your mental illness.
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Dual diagnosis is quite common in Ohio. This is due to many reasons. For instance, your drug and alcohol abuse could be as a result of your ongoing struggles with a mental health disorders. In such a situation, you would turn to alcohol and drugs to self-medicate when you feel depressed or anxious - for instance. Continued substance abuse, on the other hand, could cause you to develop an addiction.
On the other hand, your mental health disorder could have been caused by your substance abuse and addiction. If you are struggling with an alcohol use disorder or alcoholism - for instance - you might also find yourself living with depression. This is due to the fact that you would also be dealing with the emotions and guilt that occur with the cycle of addiction.
As we mentioned earlier, the cases of dual diagnosis in Ohio are increasingly becoming common. This is due to the increase in the awareness and knowledge of these conditions as well as their relationship.
In the past, many people struggled with co-occurring mental health disorders and addiction. However, they did not receive the right diagnosis for a dual diagnosis and did not get the proper treatment. this is because such treatment did not exist at the time.
That said, the NSDUH - the National Survey on Drug Use and Health - for 2014 reported that more than 8 percent of the residents of Ohio were living with a substance use disorder or an addiction. Of these people, about 1 percent had problems with both drugs and alcohol, 3 percent had issues with drugs only, while another 4 percent had problems with alcohol abuse only.
The same report showed that 45 percent of all the people struggling with substance abuse and addiction in the state were also living with a dual diagnosis - meaning that they also had another co-occurring behavioral or mental health disorder over and above their primary diagnosis for drug and alcohol addiction.
NIDA - the National Institute on Drug Abuse - also reports that people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs have twice as high a likelihood as those who are not addicted to also suffer from anxiety and mood disorders. The same report shows that people living with a mental health disorder have 4 times as high a likelihood as those without mental illness to use alcohol heavily.
But which are the mental health disorders that are most commonly linked with substance abuse and addiction in Ohio? Examples of these mental illnesses include but are not limited to anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, eating disorder, personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia.
That said, it can sometimes be difficult to identify a dual diagnosis. This is because both substances abuse and mental illnesses can cause combined effects and lead to similar symptoms especially when they occur at the same time. Even so, there are some warning symptoms that could point out that you have a dual diagnosis in Ohio.
These symptoms include withdrawal symptoms, drug cravings, anger, anxiety, depression, grief, higher than normal tolerance for addictive substances, engaging in risky behavior, extreme behavioral changes, inability to function normally unless you drink alcohol or use drugs, relationship issues, and mental and physical health problems.
While living with a dual diagnosis for substance abuse and addiction as well as a co-occurring behavioral or mental health disorder in Ohio, it is essential that you receive equal and simultaneous treatment for both of these conditions. This is the only way you are going to be able to manage all the adverse effects that you suffer as well as get started on the road to recovery.
These treatment types are commonly known as integrated dual diagnosis treatment. it is often designed to offer an unique experience in treatment to ensure that you are able to achieve full recovery in the long term.
The first step would involve getting a proper diagnosis. You can receive such a diagnosis from physicians, addiction treatment professionals, and mental health experts who recognize the disorders that you have been struggling with.
After that, you will work with the team of treatment specialists to create an appropriate recovery plan for yourself. This plan will be highly personalized and individualized based on the unique needs and requirements that you have been struggling with, as well as the type of dual diagnosis that you receive.
Once you have a treatment plan in place, you can start working on your way towards recovery. You will often do this in an inpatient program where you can receive round the clock medical care and monitoring - especially during the first few weeks of your treatment when you have a risk of suffering from withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings.
After detox, you will be provided with medication management, group therapy, family therapy, couples counseling, individual therapy, and aftercare support and programming. This way, the integrated dual diagnosis treatment program in Ohio can ensure that you are able to overcome both your substance abuse disorder as well as the co-occurring mental illness that you have been dealing with.
Learning what treatment is best for you or your loved one is easy. Speak to one of our trained counselors and let them guide you to the best treatment options available for your specific needs.
