Drug and Alcohol & Mental Health Counselling – Dual Diagnosis

When we refer to dual diagnosis we mean an individual with a mental health problem (such as depression, anxiety or psychotic illness) together with a substance use problem (such as cannabis, alcohol amphetamines or prescription medication dependence). People with alcohol and drug problems have higher rates of mental health problems than the general community. Perhaps the mental health problem prompted the person to abuse drugs, or the drug problem came before the mental health problem. Substance use can exacerbate the mental health problem, for example – alcohol is a depressant and long term use can prolong depression and make recovery more difficult or amphetamines may trigger a psychotic episode in some people. The recognised treatment is for both the substance dependence and the mental health problem to be treated at the same time.