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Dual Diagnosis: SHOW YOU CARE or supportive housing. Some people find How to Get Help therapy to be a helpful part of maintaining No insurance? Call the NAMI Southern their sobriety. This can include individual Arizona office to help guide you to access DUAL therapy (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy) mental health services. as well as self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics If you have dual diagnosis: SHOW YOU CARE. DIAGNOSIS Anonymous or Smart Recovery. Seek medical care through a psychiatrist WEAR A SILVER RIBBON. Certain medications to help maintain and/or your primary care physician. sobriety have been safely tested in multiple studies. For alcoholism, available Find the right combination of treatment Help break down the barriers to FIND HELP. medications include disulfiram (Antabuse), that works for you which may include treatment and support. acamprosate (Campral) and naltrexone medication, therapy, support groups, Help reduce stigma —talk about it! FIND HOPE. (Revia). For opiate abuse, available etc. *Sometimes people must try medications include naltrexone (Revia, several different treatments or combinations of treatment before they Vivitrol), methadone and buprenorphine Mental illness affects 1 in 5 people. We (Subutex, Suboxone). Given how find the one that works for them. provide resources and support to all those complicated these choices may be, it is Take NAMI’s Peer-to-Peer course affected by mental illness. necessary for any individuals with dual and/or join the NAMI Connection diagnosis and their loved ones to discuss support group. NAMI SOUTHERN ARIZONA DEPENDS ON YOU. medication management strategies with their doctors. LEARN about your illness. The more you THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO HELP. know, the more you are able to help BECOME A MEMBER, VOLUNTEER OR DONATE. Families, friends and others can be most yourself. Start with NAMI today! helpful in providing empathic and non- judgmental support of their loved one. This NAMI Southern Arizona If you are a family member with a loved can be critically important as a significant 6122 E. 22nd St. majority of people will relapse into drug one who has mental illness: Tucson, AZ 85711 520-622-5582 and alcohol abuse at some point in their Take care of yourself. [email protected] lives, even if they are eventually able to achieve long-lasting sobriety. With this Take NAMI’s Family-to-Family course, support, the proper medical treatment and join a Family & Friends Support Group COMMUNITY-WIDE CRISIS LINE: effective psychosocial treatments, many and/or take NAMI Basics if you have a 520-622-6000 or 1-866-495-6735 people with dual diagnosis will be able to loved one who is a child or adolescent. actively participate in their journey to NAMIsa.org Educational information and local support provided by: recovery. RECOVERY IS POSSIBLE! Family, friends and partners of military service members and veterans can take NAMI’s Homefront course. Learn about your loved one’s illness. Revised September 2016 What is dual diagnosis? mental illness may have untreated—or medical complications and early death. lead to medical emergencies requiring Dual diagnosis is a term used to describe incompletely treated—conditions (e.g., People with dual diagnosis are also at immediate treatment. This can occur when people with mental illness who also have anxiety or depression) that may “feel increased risk of impulsive and violent acts. a person who has been regularly using a problems with drugs and/or alcohol. The less painful” when the person is high on Those who abuse drugs and alcohol are more particular substance has become relationship between the two is complex, and drugs or alcohol. Unfortunately, while likely to both attempt suicide and to die from “addicted” (i.e., the body has become the treatment of people with co-occurring drugs and alcohol may feel good in the their suicide attempts. physically dependent on the substance) and moment, abuse of these substances abruptly stops using. substance abuse (or dependence) and mental Individuals with dual diagnosis are less likely doesn’t treat the underlying condition illness is more complicated than the to achieve lasting sobriety. They may be more Here are some examples that may also treatment of either condition alone. This is and—almost without exception—makes likely to experience severe complications of require immediate medical care in the unfortunately a common situation—many it worse. their substance abuse, to end up in legal hospital setting: people with mental illness have ongoing Drugs and alcohol can worsen trouble from their substance use and to substance abuse problems, and many people Alcohol withdrawal can result in heart underlying mental illnesses. This can become physically dependent on their who abuse drugs and alcohol also experience problems (e.g., arrhythmias), seizures happen both during acute intoxication substance of choice. mental illness. or delirium tremens (an acute delirious (e.g., a person with depression becomes state), all which can be potentially fatal. Certain groups of people with mental illness suicidal in the context of drinking What treatments are available for Benzodiazapine withdrawal can result in (e.g., males, individuals of lower alcohol) and during withdrawal from a individuals with dual diagnosis? tremors (e.g., shakes), seizures and substance (e.g., a person with panic socioeconomic status, military veterans and Treatment of individuals with dual diagnosis potentially death. Opiate withdrawal is attacks experiences worsening people with more general medical illnesses) is also complicated. Of primary importance is not thought to be life-threatening in symptoms during heroin withdrawal). are at increased risk of abusing drugs and addressing any life-threatening complications most cases, but it can be a very alcohol. Recent scientific studies have Drugs and alcohol can cause a person of intoxication. traumatic and painful experience. suggested that nearly one-third of people without mental illness to experience the The following situations would require Many people seek assistance in going with all mental illnesses and approximately onset of symptoms for the first time. one-half of people with severe mental immediate care in a hospital: through the process of stopping their For example, a twenty-year-old college drug and alcohol abuse. This may illnesses (including bipolar disorder and Severe cases of alcohol intoxication may student who begins to hear threatening include inpatient detoxification schizophrenia) also experience substance require emergency medical treatment and voices inside of his head and becomes involving admission to a hospital— abuse. Conversely, more than one-third of all can result in death. paranoid that his chemistry professor is either a general hospital or a alcohol abusers and more than one-half of all poisoning his food after smoking drug abusers are also battling mental illness. Use of amphetamines, crack, cocaine and detoxification facility—and treatment marijuana could represent a reaction to other drugs can result in heart problems with the appropriate medications to the drug (potentially called a (e.g., arrhythmias, heart attacks), stroke What is the relationship between avoid serious complications of acute “substance-induced psychosis”) or the and death. drug and alcohol withdrawal. substance use and mental illness? first episode of psychosis for this The relationship between mental illness and individual. Use of benzodiazapines (e.g., diazepam Multiple scientific studies have shown that substance abuse/dependency is complex. [valium], clonazepam [klonopin]), opiates psychiatric treatments are more effective in Abuse of drugs and alcohol always results in (e.g., oxycodone, oxycontin) and other people who are not actively abusing drugs These relationships are often considered in a worse prognosis for a person with mental the following: “downers” can result in extreme sedation and alcohol. Many options exist for people illness. Active users are less likely to follow and potentially death in overdose. who are newly sober or who are trying to Drugs and alcohol can be a form of self- through with their treatment plans. They avoid relapse on drugs and alcohol. These medication. In such cases, people with are more likely to experience severe Untreated, any of these conditions can lead to death. Drug and alcohol withdrawal can can include inpatient rehabilitation centers .
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