Dual Diagnosis and Recovery: A Double Challenge
Recovering from addiction is a daily challenge, as anyone who has given up alcohol, drugs, or any other mind and mood altering substance can attest. The substance abuser must learn to cope with life's challenges without the anesthetic of his or her drug of choice. Giving up the substance is only the first step. Then comes the work of understanding the addiction process. To avoid relapse, the individual needs the willingness to look at the internal and external triggers that can drive the individual back to the substance. It's hard work, and the recovering individual needs all the support he or she can get. Dual Diagnosis: Untangling the Web The challenges can be even greater, though, when addiction is paired with a mental health disorder such as depression, bipolar, anxiety disorder, or schizophrenia. It's overwhelmingly common for people with a mental health disorder to self-medicate their symptoms. Someone with depression might smoke pot to numb their emotions, a chroni...