When you enter rehab, you will be doing so to address your drug or alcohol addiction. That is exactly what you are expected to do. However, this could also be a golden opportunity to address other issues that might be adversely affecting the quality of your life. If you have the combination of an addiction and personality disorder, you will find you are a member of a big group. A lot of addiction sufferers have the dreadful combination of a mental health disorder to go along with their addiction. In some cases, the medication an addiction sufferer is taking becomes the source of their drug addiction.
The point is you are not all that unusual in that you have multiple issues with which you have to deal. Within the addiction treatment community, they use the term co-occurring disorders to describe the presence of an addiction and personality disorder. However, we offer the fact there has to be a direct relationship between the two disorders in order to get the cooccurring disorders label. Here is how that might work. If someone has a personality disorder that causes them distress, they might turn to drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism. If they do that and addiction becomes apparent, they will in fact have co-occurring disordered. Conversely, let’s look at the individual who falls deep into an addiction problem.
While living in the cycle of addiction, they form a personality disorder that seems to have its roots in the addiction. Again, this individual would then have what the addiction treatment community would consider to be co-occurring disorders. We keep mentioning cooccurring disorders for a very specific reason. If a client enters rehab with co-occurring disorders, the rehab facility would want to offer a very specific type of treatment program, a program the addiction treatment community calls dual-diagnosis therapy. In the following sections, we will go into depth about this particular treatment methodology.
About Dual Diagnosis Therapy
Once a rehab facility prescribes dual diagnosis therapy for a client, the client gets the unique opportunity to get treatment for multiple issues at the same time. Please pay attention. Dual diagnosis therapy works on the premise that the client needs treatment for both disorders simultaneously. It is very important that you understand that. Failure to get treatment for both disorders at the same time would likely result in the failure of treatment.
Why? The chances of the untreated disorder interfering with the recovery process would be very high. As an example, imagine for a moment that someone gets treatment or their addiction that was caused in part because of their personality disorder. If they don’t get treatment for the personality disorder as well, they will use drugs or alcohol again when the distress caused by the personality disorder becomes unbearable.
It’s human nature to avoid unpleasant feelings. The challenge each rehab facility that offers dual diagnosis therapy has is how to deliver treatment to the client. In fact, there are three ways they can handle providing dual diagnosis therapy:
- One Therapist treating both disorders
- Two therapists, each treating one disorder
- One therapist treating the addiction and outsourcing treatment for the personality disorder
One Therapist Treating Both Disorders
This is only possible if the rehab facility is willing and able to employ a counselor who has the appropriate licensing to treat mental disorders and addiction. This is the optimum solution for clients because of the continuity of treatment.
Two Therapist, Each Treating One Disorder
This is a common approach among rehab facilities that employ or contract with a licensed staff psychologist. This approach is a little tough on clients because they have to double up on the therapy sessions.
One Addiction Therapist and Outsourcing
When a rehab facility does not maintain a licensed psychologist, they do have the option of outsourcing mental health treatment on a client to client. This option can really present problems if a client has to be transported to another facility for psychological treatment. We certainly share your concern regarding you having both an addiction issue and personality disorder. With that being said, we can offer you the treatment you need for both disorders. It is something you need to think about handling as soon as possible. When you are ready, you can give us a call at 844-639-8371. With one simple phone call, you could change the entire course of your life for the better. The road to recovery is waiting for you.