Dual Diagnosis Treatment Centers in Nashville, Tennessee

A dual diagnosis is a disorder in which a person with a substance use disorder also has at least one mental health condition. In the world of addiction treatment, dual diagnoses are actually quite common because substance abuse and mental health issues often go hand in hand. A third of people who abuse alcohol, and over half who abuse drugs, also experience mental illness. What’s worse is that substance abuse can actually make a person’s mental health symptoms even more severe.

There are three different things that researchers find can contribute to dual diagnosis.  The first is that both substance abuse and mental health conditions can be caused by trauma, stress, and genetics. The second is that certain mental health conditions can make you more likely to use and abuse substances. This, in turn, can lead to becoming addicted to them. The third is that substance abuse can lead to a mental health condition due to the way that it changes how the brain works.