Dual Diagnosis in Hartford, CT

Many people suffering from drug and alcohol addictions do not realize all of the options available to them in addiction treatment. Dual diagnosis treatment programs, for example, are an addiction treatment in Hartford that many people do not even know exists. This lack of understanding and knowledge can lead people to drug or alcohol addictions to enter the wrong treatment program and miss out on the care they need for a full recovery from their addiction. If you are one of the people currently struggling with addiction issues, it is important to get to know more about treatment for dual diagnosis in Hartford and the ways that dual diagnosis rehab can help you with your recovery. Then, you can be sure that when you do begin your addiction treatment process, you get the best possible care and treatment.

What Is Dual Diagnosis?

In order to know if you need the help of dual diagnosis treatment programs and dual diagnosis rehab, it is important to know what dual diagnosis in Hartford entails. When a person has an addiction to drugs or alcohol, the concept of dual diagnosis refers to having a mental health disorder in addition to that addiction. While most people do not realize it, mental health disorders and addictions occur together quite often. Many people with addictions develop mental health disorders and vice versa. Dual diagnosis is not a term that implies or indicates that one of the conditions causes the other. It only indicates that the two conditions are occurring at the same time.

Knowing the basic definition of dual diagnosis, you can more easily understand what dual diagnosis rehab can do for you. Dual diagnosis treatment programs are designed to treat both the mental health condition and the drug or alcohol addiction. While addiction and mental health disorders do not always cause one another, they do interact with one another. They both have a significant effect, for example, on a person's brain chemistry. Because both conditions alter brain chemistry and throw it out of balance, treatment of both conditions simultaneously is often far more successful than attempts to only treat one of the conditions. If you try to address one without dealing with the other, you will likely relapse shortly after your treatment is complete.

Dual Diagnosis and Addiction

Drug and alcohol addictions and mental health disorder co-occur quite often for a number of reasons. As previously noted, the chemical balance in the brain is thrown off-balance with both types of conditions. Because they can have similar effects on the physiological functions of the brain, they can also cause one another or contribute to one another. For example, a person with depression may begin drinking alcohol as a means of trying to numb their feelings of loneliness or to help them cope with feeling socially isolated from other people. The chemical reactions that alcohol causes can actually worsen depression which can lead a person to consume more alcohol. This is just one example of the many complicated relationships that can occur between drugs and alcohol and mental health disorders.

Types of Mental Health Disorders

There are thousands of different variations of mental health disorders that a person can suffer from, and any one of those mental health disorders could potentially coincide with a drug or alcohol addiction. However, there are certain combinations that occur more often than others and specifically, certain mental health disorders that coincide with addictions when a person has a dual diagnosis in Hartford.

Depression

Depression is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorders in the United States and affects millions of people every year. Because it is such a common mental health disorder, it is also one of the most common mental health disorders in dual diagnosis treatment programs. Depression causes a wide variety of symptoms including feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, fatigue, profound sadness, among other things. As such, depression may coincide with alcohol, antidepressant, or stimulant additions.

Anxiety

While depression is one of the most commonly recognized mental health disorders, anxiety disorders actually are the most common mental health disorders in the United States. Anxiety disorders can include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and even OCD or PTSD. Extreme worry, anxiousness, insomnia, and panic are common symptoms of anxiety disorders.

When you are suffering from both a mental health disorder and a drug or alcohol addiction, you have a dual diagnosis in Hartford. And the best possible way to deal with that dual diagnosis in Hartford is to seek out a dual diagnosis rehab program to help you overcome both conditions at the same time. Call Hartford Drug Rehab Centers now for help (877) 804-1531.