We’re all mad here. The world is a gigantic Neapolitan ice cream tub of unique, boring, and eccentric people just melting together in conflicting tastes that also complement each other contrariwise. There are different levels of every person existing or to have ever existed. Every single person has a different genetic composition than the last- and nobody will ever be able to emanate that. You are you-er than you and that truer than true.
With all those different flavors sloshing about you would imagine that the ingredients differ dramatically, sure, but to what degree? When it comes to all the different personality reactions and reactions of personalities, there are a lot of external and internal factors that affect things. One thing to specifically take note of is the irrational decisions of an alcoholic. To put it bluntly, alcoholic thinking causes a lot of mistakes to be made. A lot a lot a lot.
On the other hand, once the haze has cleared away and the problems stay, there’s clearly something else at hand. Often times addicts and alcoholics of the sort deal with something called dual diagnosis. This is essentially where there is alcoholism and another disorder/disease working together in the irrationality that ensues. Most of the time there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the chemically dependent.
Not Everything is Better in Two’s
As if addiction wasn’t enough of a pain in the ass, sure enough now there’s the threat of dual diagnosis for some. This is an unbalance upstairs that can be any combination of mental health disorders partnered with substance dependency. In any cases the addict in question has been dealing with the other mental illness for quite some time but said sickness was masked by the absurdity of alcoholic thinking. This happens much more often than most would realize.
Yes yes, there’s dual diagnosis for some and then co-occurring disorders for others. As if dual diagnosis wasn’t sinister enough, some people are dealt with the cards of addiction plus multiple existing disorders. They have it rougher than most but are still not doomed to desolation because of being unhinged. Any dual diagnosis or combo of mental hang ups are all able to be overcome with the right effort put forth. Between medications, therapy, and fellowship, any equation is beatable if we put our mind to it. How were you willing to go just to get high/drunk? The same applies to the art of becoming in-balance.
Double D’s
Even though dual diagnosis has no bounds, some mental disorders are much more common than others. Often times genetics can dictate all of the possibilities. Science still debates whether addiction is nature versus nurture in many ways, but regardless of its roots, it does exist. Some of the more recognized illnesses paired with it include:
- Mood disorders (depression, bipolar disorder)
- Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorders
- Anxiety disorders (panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder)
- Personality disorders (antisocial, borderline, narcissistic)
With all the different DSM classifications, you can only imagine the endless blends of unbalance. Fortunately, as long as a strait doctor makes a professional diagnosis then it can all be tamed. It’s important to know if the alcoholic in question needs to be medicated or requires less of it. It’s important to know if drugs were the reason behind certain behaviors or if a bonkers equilibrium was. Moving forward requires action to recognize action that requires action.
Defeating the Two-Headed Dragon
9 times out of 10 it is recommended to begin treating both the mental disorder and addiction simultaneously. If one is treated without the other, the chances of a full recovery or long-term sobriety are slim. Neither the yin or yang of dual diagnosis are more important to treat than the other, but the alcoholism side is usually the more pressing matter that is blatantly there.
Upon accepting the problems at hand and moving forward, usually, detox is recommended to begin with. Clearing the toxins out of our systems will tap into that frozen rationality that’s been missing. Once this couple day to a couple week process is completed, treatment for the dual diagnosis can and should begin immediately. It is here that a good bit of the haze has been aired out and most alcoholics can slowly begin to see the error of their ways at least. Detox essentially sheds the camouflage hiding the dual diagnosis all along.
Dealing With the Dual
Dual Diagnosis can be overwhelming at first when thinking about it, but rest assured that it’s something that can easily be left in our wake if we choose recovery from such. Those dealing with comorbidity of any sort will explain that it is not nearly the monster that some of the pessimists dramatize it to be. Once the drugs are off the table it is so much easier to see what clearly needs to be done.
The reality of dual diagnosis is that there is not a choice in the matter… A disease is a disease is a disease. Addiction will make us crazy about drugs and other diseases will make it seem like it’s just the drugs. This equation absolutely has x and y factors that must be applied or removed when looking for the solution. Anything in this world can be understood and attained if we put our mind to it. Following a recovery regimen with proper medications can be the difference between sanity and insanity in this scenario. Sometimes it’s great to be eccentric, but a regulated eccentricity is the safer one at that.
Diagnosing a Need for Diagnosis
Treating dual diagnosis is a complex process that requires the simple effort of willingness. There is no shame in such just understanding to be had. If you or a loved one is struggling with chemical dependency and are ready for help, please call 888-481-1993 or visit www.coastaldetox.com. We are ready to give you any suggestions possible and set you or your loved one on a path that we can all be proud of.