Substance Abuse and Mental Health Facilities in Christiansburg, VA
There are many reasons why you might receive a dual diagnosis in Christiansburg for both substances abuse and addiction as well as a co-occurring mental illness. In particular, your age, environment, and genetics could all play a role in increase your risk for a dual diagnosis.
For instance, if you start abusing drugs and alcohol at a young age - such as during your teenage years - you might increase your risk of becoming addicted and eventually developing a mental health disorder. This is because your brain would still be developing.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
It can be difficult to recognize the existence of post-traumatic stress disorder especially when it co-occurs with substance abuse and addiction. If you are living with PTSD, you might hide your substance abuse because of the feelings of shame that you deal with.
Prolonged substance abuse, however, will eventually rewire the circuitry of the brain. Over time, you will find that you need alcohol and drugs just to feel normal. Eventually, you will develop an addiction or a substance use disorder - over and above the post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms that you have also been dealing with.
Schizophrenia
Research studies report that most of the people who live with schizophrenia - a common mental health disorder - also struggle with substance abuse and addiction. If you are among these people, you might use drugs and alcohol to manage the symptoms of your mental illness.
In the short term, this could provide you with some relief. However, it will soon lead to the development of a substance use disorder, or an addiction. When this happens, you will require dual diagnosis treatment to manage both disorders before you can get started on the road to recovery.
In case you are addicted to drugs and alcohol while also struggling with another co-occurring medical, mental health or behavioral health disorder, you may be able to benefit from spending time in a dual diagnosis treatment program.
These programs will guide you on the road to recovery by offering you the rehabilitation services that you need to deal with all the disorders that you were diagnosed with. Further, they will offer you the ongoing help that will ensure that you do not suffer a relapse later in the future.
The important thing to keep in mind is that it is recommended that you opt for dual diagnosis treatment if you were diagnosed with more than one of these drug related disorders.
