Diagnostic Dilemmas
What Is a Dual Diagnosis?
When a person goes to a normal rehab for addiction treatment, he may be told that besides his addiction, he also suffers from a mental illness. That means that one diagnosis is drug addiction, and a separate one will vary from person to person for different mental disorders.
We feel there is a dilemma arising from the fact that it’s possible that not every addict, diagnosed with a separate mental illness really has one.
How could this happen? Well, most people arrive at rehab while they are still using drugs or are beginning withdrawal. They then go through the intense process of withdrawal while at rehab. Withdrawal can create such intense changes in the way a person feels, both physically and mentally that it could be possible to mistake withdrawal symptoms for mental disorders.
Is it best to treat those symptoms like they are a mental disorder or could the person simply be supported through it all until the drugs leave his system?
We’ll take a closer look at the answer.
How Can Withdrawal Simulate a Mental Disorder?
When a person goes through withdrawal, there are many powerful forces to be reckoned with.
- The person is physically sick, to a greater or lesser degree, as the body adjusts to operating without the addictive substance. The sickness varies with different drugs; opioid sickness can be ghastly, with cocaine or marijuana it can be less intense, and with alcohol the withdrawal can be life-threatening, requiring close medical supervision.
- Mentally the withdrawal process is extremely hard hitting. Once the numbness of drugs or alcohol wears off, every bit of guilt and pain that was suppressed or numbed by the drugs or alcohol is thrown straight at the person.
- The body is physically depleted of vital vitamins and minerals from the unhealthy practices usually kept by an addict. Things like lack of natural or healthy sleep, a poor diet, lack of food; and of course, the toxic effects of the drugs themselves.
Both the body and mind will be struggling through this period, which can last from days to weeks, depending on what the substance of abuse was.
Just the process of withdrawing from some drugs can itself cause symptoms that mimic mental disorders.
Such symptoms as depression, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia or excessive sleeping, hopelessness, loss of interest in life, chronic pain, headaches, even a preoccupation with death are all symptoms that can be seen in withdrawal.
Analysing Withdrawal Symptoms
The emotional burdens of someone going through rehabilitation are pretty high. Many addicts will have lost families, friends, ruined relationships and careers, and generally sent their life rocketing down an unwanted path. They become more aware as the drugs leave their system of just how bad it is, as well as the pain and suffering that they caused to those around them.
If you take these factors into account, it would be surprising if a person were NOT depressed and anxious about how they were going to get out of such a difficult situation.
The physical depletion a person new to recovery suffers can itself cause mental symptoms. A report published on the website of the National Institutes of Health notes that diets without sufficient vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids and amino acids can cause mental symptoms and the supplementing of these substances alleviates mental problems. An article on the website www.everydayhealth.com adds vitamin D, magnesium, folate, iron and other substances to the list of nutrients needed for healthy mental functioning.
How Can You Tell Which Is Which?
While a person is still in withdrawal or the early stage rehabilitation, really there isn’t a way; as you would need to eliminate the factors of physical withdrawal, depletion and mental trauma.
For a lot of addicts, once the physical withdrawal is over, the body given correct nutrients, and the real-life problems addressed, those symptoms of mental disorders are often gone, just a temporary condition arising from the stresses of withdrawal. For those that are still left with symptoms, then you have at least eliminated the dilemma of misdiagnosis from confused sources.
The Narconon System of Support
Here at Narconon UK, each person arriving is started on a generous supply of nutritional supplements. Physical aches, pains, and nausea are targeted with these supplements, as well as gentle procedures that help to calm both the mind and the nervous system. Once a person is through physical withdrawal, he is started on a detoxification that should help both his physical condition and his mental outlook on life.
The effects of just these early steps of our program very often lift the worst of these symptoms we have discussed. A brighter outlook, reduced cravings and greater hope for a sober future are often the results. And that is still followed by more steps to bring the person skills they may need to tackle a sober life once more.
