Latest on the Recovery Channel:
Causes of Drug Addiction
I never thought about the causes of drug addiction, I just knew my drug addiction was a problem. When I entered treatment the therapist told me that learning the causes of drug addiction was as important as stopping my drug use. I didn’t understand that but I accepted it because my life was a mess. [...]
Holistic Addiction Treatment and My Recovery
Holistic addiction treatment was really strange, but it turned out to be the best choice I ever made. While the holistic addiction treatment services seemed too strange for words in the beginning, it ended up providing me with recovery tools I never had before. After I left the holistic addiction treatment center, I continues to [...]
Drug Addiction Rehab Maryland
Drug addiction has permeated every part of our society. Living in Baltimore Maryland for so many years drug addiction seemed to be growing every day. When the day came that I realized I was I need of drug addiction rehab, Maryland was not for me. I started looking for drug addiction rehab in Florida. I [...]
Addiction Treatment Center New Jersey
Who Are Lakeview?s Addiction Treatment Patients?
Lakeview Health Systems patients come to our addiction treatment center from the state of New Jersey (NJ) and it many beautiful cities. Some of the cities that patients travel to our addiction treatment center from our;
Union, New Jersey
Summit, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Montclair, New [...]
I Had to Leave Maryland Drug Rehab
After years of needing drug rehabilitation I finally decided to enter a Maryland drug rehab. This drug rehab in Maryland was beautiful, the staff seemed cool and they knew what they were doing. Unfortunately I wa more interested in a girl than I was in drug rehabilitation. Afterweeks of paying total attention to her they [...]
Dual Diagnosis
Dual Diagnosis, is a term used to describe the coexistence of drug addiction / alcoholism and a psychiatric disorder. Research has shown us that people with psychiatric problems are more prone to drug addiction and alcoholism and we have found that almost 50 percent of people treated with addiction's, experience a psychiatric problem of one kind or another.
With this in mind, it is very difficult in early recovery to correctly diagnose the addict or alcoholic. The reason for this is that while in detox and withdrawing from addictive substances, many of the symptoms people exhibit and experience mimic psychiatric symptoms. While every patient is provided with a psychiatric consultation to rule out or acknowledge the existence of a psychiatric disorder, we have found it to be in the best interest of our patients to try and wait until they are medically stable before making any firm diagnosis. If a patient reports a high level of discomfort, accompanied by symptoms, we address their situation immediately.
Understand, many addicts and alcoholics, unknowingly, used drugs and alcohol as a means to cope with an untreated psychiatric disorder. What they didn't realize was that continued use would become an addiction, turning any already complex situation into an even more complicated one.
Dual Diagnosis Treatment
Ideally, drug addiction, alcohol abuse and psychiatric disorders should be treated simultaneously. As mentioned earlier, the first step in dual diagnosis treatment must be detox. Detox is a period of time where, under medical supervision, medical personnel manage the symptoms associated with withdrawal. This generally takes place in a drug rehab or addiction treatment program. It is important to note that while in detox, medications may be dispensed to manage any psychiatric symptoms.
After detox, patients participate in a variety of clinical services with the other members of the addiction treatment program. As with other addictions, denial plays a significant role in treating dual diagnosis. Generally speaking, people resist acknowledging the presence of a mental illness. For this reason, we move at the patient's pace in the addiction treatment process, all the while monitoring the patient's dual diagnosis.
Lastly, one of the key components dual diagnosis treatment rests in teaching patients medication management. Medication management is part of any relapse prevention plan for the dually diagnosed and should not be taken lightly.