About Dual Diagnosis Treatment Facilities

Many drug rehabilitation centers include programs for dually diagnosed patients. When the mental defect is mild, patients often do well with the general population and find relief from their symptoms in the group and individual therapy they receive as part of their drug treatment. Patients who are successfully treated with medication to relieve more severe mental disorders also can be included in the group dynamics present in most treatment facilities.

While medical doctors recognize the special needs of drug addicts with a dual diagnosis, there are those who disagree in the necessary treatment of dual diagnosis patients. Treatment centers such as the Holistic Addiction Treatment Center and other facilities that provide natural remedies for both problems treat both disorders with herbal remedies, nutrition and a variety of intensive therapy modalities. Programs that include neuro-linguistic programming, motivational enhancement therapy, massage and Reiki eschew medications in favor of natural healing practices.

Most people who check into a drug treatment facility exhibit other emotional problems. A trained psychiatrist is needed to evaluate each patient to determine the extent of the mental health disorder. Treatment facilities such as Pacific Hills Treatment Centers refer to a dual diagnosis as co-occurring disorder. They have every patient evaluated by a psychiatrist upon admission to make sure each patient receives appropriate care. When additional psychological issues are suspected, look for a treatment facility that offers dual diagnosis evaluation and treatment.

There are treatment centers that specialize in dual diagnosis drug rehabilitation services. They often limit the type of client they serve in order to focus the treatment. San Cristobal Academy in New Mexico, for example, limits its program to young men aged 17 to 26 and Prescott House in Arizona is an extended care treatment facility for men with a dual diagnosis. Harmony Place in California is exclusively for women with drug addiction and mental health issues. The delicate nature of this treatment can often be more focused when clients are among other like themselves and don't have to deal with the distractions often associated with the opposite sex or addicts without biological problems on top of their addiction.

Psychiatric hospitals and mental health operations such as Wake Forest Hospital in North Carolina treat a variety of mental conditions including drug addition, dual diagnosis patients, eating disorders and post traumatic stress disorder. Once relieved of the physical withdrawal symptoms from the drugs, patients are stabilized with medication for their mental illness and often are then referred to residential drug treatment facilities.