How Can a Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center Help Treat My Alcoholism and Depression?
Alcoholism and depression often seem to go hand-in-hand, not only because they are both some of the most common illnesses in the world, but also because they feed into one another. Whether it is your alcohol that is fueling your depression, or your depression that is fueling your alcoholism, the combination of these two illnesses can be extremely dangerous, if not deadly. It is crucial that if an individual receives a dual diagnosis of having both alcoholism and depression, that he or she seeks help at a dual diagnosis treatment center as quickly as possible to help address their co-morbid state.
How Can Dual Diagnosis Treatment Centers Help Me?
Dual diagnosis treatment centers focus on treating not only the substance abuse problem, but also the psychological issues that can develop as a result or become the cause of abuse. In most treatment centers throughout the country, the focus only remains on the substance abuse problem, which often leaves other issues such as depression untouched. Therefore, if you have a dual diagnosis of alcoholism and depression, a dual diagnosis treatment center is better equipped to help you overcome your challenges in the following ways:
• Detox – Before you will be able to address any of your issues, your system needs to be free and clear of all alcohol. Therefore, at a dual diagnosis treatment center, you will likely be put through the detox process and receive medications to help prevent you from feeling ill during the withdrawal process.
• Medications – To start treatment on your struggle with depression, a dual diagnosis treatment will wait until you have completed the detox process to start you on an antidepressant that will help restore positive brain chemistry. This will help promote your participation in activities held by the dual diagnosis treatment center that will encourage your recovery.
• Coping skills – The majority of addiction treatment centers work on helping individuals develop coping skills that will prevent them from using in the future. At a dual diagnosis treatment center, you will not only obtain coping skills geared toward preventing an alcohol relapse, but you will also learn how to cope with your depression in ways that keep you from having severe episodes.
• Therapy – A dual diagnosis treatment center not only incorporates traditional addiction therapy into their program, but also therapy geared towards treating specific mental illnesses such as depression. By combining these two therapeutic approaches, you can receive therapy for both your alcoholism and your depression simultaneously. This allows you to begin healing both issues rather than only healing one while neglecting the other.
A dual diagnosis treatment center is truly the best place for you to begin your recovery from alcoholism and depression. It is in a setting such as this that you can both detox and develop coping skills that prevent your relapse, all while receiving therapy geared towards your depression, medications to help ease the symptoms of that depression and much more. The integrated approach provided at a dual diagnosis treatment center is what can help treat both your alcoholism and your depression most effectively.
