What Is Integrated Treatment?

Fortunately the idea of “dual diagnosis” services or “integrated treatment” is gaining attention and acceptance. This model treats those who suffer from co-occurring disorders -- mental illness and substance abuse. That may seem like a specific segmented group, but its estimated that as many as 90 percent of those battling addiction also have a mental health issue like trauma, bipolar, PTSD, depression or anxiety. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) maintains that to recover fully, an individual with a co-occurring disorder needs treatment for both problems -- focusing on one does not ensure the other will go away.

Dual Diagnosis

Dual Diagnosis services integrate assistance for each condition, helping people recover from both in one setting, at the same time. Integrated treatment goes beyond standard therapy or medication and may include assertive outreach, family counseling, even money and relationship management, according to NAMI. The personalized treatment is viewed as long-term and can be begun at whatever stage of recovery a person is in. Positivity, hope and optimism are at the foundation of integrated treatment.

Despite a wide range of research that supports its success, integrated treatment is still not made widely available to consumers. Those who struggle both with serious mental illness and substance abuse face problems of enormous proportions. Mental health services tend not to be well prepared to deal with patients having both afflictions. Often only one of the two problems is identified. If both are recognized, the individual may bounce back and forth between services for mental illness and those for substance abuse, or they may be refused treatment by each of them. Fragmented and uncoordinated services create a service gap for persons with co-occurring disorders.

That’s why it’s important to actively seek out appropriate, integrated services.