Healing from Psychiatric Disorders and Alcohol Addiction
A Dual Diagnosis Treatment program must be three things: integrative, comprehensive, and flexible. Without all three of these elements, it will fall short of providing the patient with what he or she needs in terms of alcohol addiction treatment and care for their psychological disorder.
It’s a delicate balance and not easy to do. Everyone will manifest the symptoms of their individual psychological disorder differently, and everyone will have a different history with drug and alcohol addiction that affected that disorder in a different way. There is no one-size-fits-all program. There are, however, ways of going about making sure that the patient has what he or she needs to make progress in fighting both disorders at once and build a positive new life in sobriety.
Here are a few steps that should be taken during Dual Diagnosis Treatment:
- Make sure that the environment is safe. Those who are drunk or living with an untreated psychiatric disorder can be dangerous to themselves and others. It’s important to make sure they are subdued.
- Keep drugs and alcohol away at all costs. An inpatient program is the best option in most cases for both safety and sobriety.
- Address the issue of medication. For most who are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, there will be a need for medication. It can take a few months to find the right medications and the right dosage and allow the medications to build up to effective levels in the system. For this reason, too, inpatient Dual Diagnosis rehab is advisable.
- Improve coping skills. This is a widely applied step that takes place throughout treatment. Coping skills for avoiding relapse on alcohol and handling the onset of unexpected symptoms related to the psychiatric disorder.
- Limit stress. No matter what else is going on, keeping a low stress level at all times will assist with the patient’s ability to cope with stressful events or issues related to his or her illness.
- Address issues of loss. Most will come into treatment with a bag of woes, wrongs both real and imagined that do nothing but help them maintain a negative mindset. Dealing with those issues in a therapeutic setting can help the patient to let those go and move on.
- Improve self-care. Everything from eating habits to hygiene to exercise should be addressed during Dual Diagnosis rehab. In addition to limiting stress, these simple steps can go a long way toward helping the patient feel better and react more calmly to stressors.
- Develop a support system. During treatment and after, it is important for patients to have the skills they need to interact positively with others so that they can get the support they need to remain strong during their care.
Contact us at Michael’s House today to learn more about our Dual Diagnosis rehab and how we can help you or your loved one heal from alcohol addiction and a co-occurring disorder.
