Dual Issues

A lot of people who have to deal with Mental Health/Illness issues also become easily caught up with Addictions issues.

Many of the medications that are given to people in order to keep their Mental Illness symptoms under control are very powerful drugs. Sadly, many of the medications are not very safe, and if used improperly, these medications can cause dependency issues.

In a case like this, a person would have to deal with both addiction recovery and mental health recovery, and this can be very difficult to overcome.

Another way in which people with Mental Illness can easily be subject to the world of addictions is via Mental Illness symptoms which affect a person's self-esteem and moods. Many Mental Illnesses are considered 'mood disorders' and typically, drugs and alcohol are 'mood enhancers' or substances which also disrupt, influence, or otherwise alter a person's 'moods.' Putting symptoms together with substances is tricky business.

Both 'safe' and 'unsafe' medications are effective for assisting in the removal of or lowering of troublesome Mental Illness symptoms, so naturally, people who experience Mental Illness symptoms may have a higher risk of being exposed to both safe and unsafe substances.

It is of primary concern that people with Mental Illness acquire really good health professionals who will support them in any concerns about drug dependency issues. This means finding doctors who tend toward a 'naturopathic' lean and not wholly on a medical/drug way of thinking.

Yes, there are some wonderful medications out there to assist people with Mental Illness in living healthier, fuller, symptom-free lives - but each medication and each possible dose of medications can react in different ways, according to each individual person's body metabolism. What doctors feel works well, in the way of drugs, for MOST PEOPLE - may work poorly on certain individuals, so if your doctor does suggest drug therapies for Mental Illness symptoms, be sure to find out if the same doctor will very closely monitor how things are going for you if you do decide to act on suggestions.

Sometimes, after a certain medication has proven to be unsuccessful with alleviating Mental Illness symptoms, a patient comes out of the experience with a difficult diagnosis called 'dual diagnosis,' which simply means that addiction as well as mental illness symptoms affect behaviors and mental health.

In such cases, if a person has become addicted to substances, their physicians and health care providers will have to be extra careful about prescriptions for the future and sometimes, the affected person will benefit greatly from addiction/rehab materials.

Most alcoholism and drug addiction material used in our present day treats addiction with the idea in mind that addiction, itself, is a sort of mental illness, so this may be why 12-Step programs and other addiction-related programs, literature and information works well for people who have Mental Illness.

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