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Substance Abuse And Mental Disorders Often Go Hand-In-Hand. What's The Status Of Good Treatment?

By Jeanene Swanson

Statistics don’t lie: co-occurring mental disorders and addiction - also called dual diagnosis - go hand in hand. In fact, according to several long-standing epidemiological studies, 50% of general psychiatric patients also have a substance use disorder. That's a harrowing 8.9 million adults, with only 7.4% of individuals receiving treatment for both conditions, this according to The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Addiction treatment specialists are well aware of the fact that drug and alcohol abuse can also cause symptoms of a mental disorder - in other words, if you take away the drugs and alcohol, the mental problems ease up or go away entirely. But that’s not always the case. Substance use can trigger latent mental disorders and often make them worse.