What is Dual-Diagnosis?
What is Dual Diagnosis?
A person who has both an alcohol or drug
problem and an emotional/psychiatric problem is said to have a dual diagnosis.
To recover fully, the person needs treatment for both problems.
Dual
diagnosis refers to the co-occurence of mental health disorders and substance
abuse disorders (alcohol and/or drug dependence or abuse).
Dual Diagnosis,
and Dual/Multiple disorders profiles may include the following:
Severe/major
mental illness and a substance disorder(s)
Substance
disorder(s) and a personality disorder(s)
Substance disorder(s), personality
disorder(s) and substance induced acute symptoms that may require psychiatric
care, i.e., hallucinations, depression, and other symptoms resulting from substance
abuse or withdrawal.
Substance abuse, mental illness, and organic
syndromes in various combinations. Organic sydromes may be a result of substance
abuse, or independent of substance abuse.
Persons are found across the mental health and substance abuse systems who have various
combinations of these dual/multiple disorders.
They are also found
outside of these systems of care, often among the homeless, and within the criminal
justice system.
Acronyms that define various dual disorders:
MICAA: Mentally Ill, Chemical Abusers, and Addicted. Denotes the severely
mentally ill chemical abuser. (Sciacca, 1991)
MISA: Mentally
Ill Substance Abuser. May denote various combinations of dual disorders with or
without severe mental illness.
MIDAA*, This denotes the inclusion
of Mental Illness, Drug Addiction and Alcoholism in various combinations as dual/multiple
disorders.
CAMI: Chemical Abusing Mentally Ill. This denotes
Chemical abuse or dependence as primary with personality disorders (but without
severe mental illness). (Sciacca,1991).
CAMI, With substance
induced psychotic episodes: Same as CAMI with induced acute symptoms. (Sciacca,1991)
Reference: Sciacca, K. "An Integrated Treatment Approach for Severely Mentally Ill
Individuals with Substance Disorders" New Directions for Mental Health Services,
Jossey Bass Publ. Summer 1991,#50.
*MIDAA and logo are registered trademarks of Kathleen Sciacca and Sciacca Comprehensive
Service Development for MIDAA.
|
