How is the treatment of dual pathology?

Dual pathology is a very serious physical and mental health problem, since it combines at least two alterations capable of rapidly wearing down the well-being of the person and even their social relationships and relatives.

Therefore, in the face of this phenomenon, it is essential to seek professional help as soon as possible, starting a treatment that allows reverse the existing disorders in the day-to-day of the person and prevent the problems that could arise in the future if they are not remedy. In this article we will see what they are the characteristics of this dual pathology treatment.

• Related article: "Dual pathology: causes and associated treatments and disorders"

Characteristics of dual pathology

Dual pathology is a phenomenon that encompasses a wide variety of mental health problems; fundamentally, it is about the combination of an addictive disorder, on the one hand, and a psychological disorder, on the other. Thus, within this concept it is possible to find health complications as different as the mixture of alcoholism and bipolar disorder, or heroin addiction and Stress Disorder Post-traumatic, etc.

In addition, it can occur so much that the addiction has been facilitated or triggered by the psychological disorder (as a way of "compensating" in a maladaptive way discomfort generated by psychopathology) or that the psychological disorder has been caused by addiction (as a disruptive element in the emotional balance of the person), or even both complications may arise in parallel due to a common cause (for example, a traumatic situation linked to the sudden death of a being Dear).

• You may be interested in: "The 14 most important types of addictions"

Why is dual pathology a problem?

Although, as we have seen within this category, a great diversity of alterations are included, there are some characteristics that make dual pathology a very serious health problem that goes beyond the sum of its pathologies understood as separate disorders. Let's see what they are.

1. Promotes emotional instability

The combination of psychological disorder and addictive disorder causes the person to frequently experience mood swings, since to the discomfort caused by the relative lack of drugs in the body is added the problems to manage the emotions related to it. In this way, the "easy way out" that remains for the person is to continue using drugs to alleviate discomfort, even if only for the moment.

• Related article: "Mood swings: what they are, and 9 tips to control them"

2. Requires a more complete treatment

Although this by itself is not a problem for the well-being of those who suffer from dual pathology, it is a factor that leads some to not decide to urgently seek the health care they need, which contributes to their health condition deteriorating the longer time passes.

3. Promotes impulsiveness

Dual pathology tends to have a greater capacity to lead the person to extreme situations in which you notice that what happens to you overflows, thus giving in more easily to impulses, at the cost of their health and their social relationships.

• You may be interested in: "How to control impulsivity? 8 tips that help "

4. It can lead to death from an overdose

In those cases in which the person's ability to reason or interpret reality is altered by the psychological disorder, death from overdose may occur. due to the inability to predict the consequences of consuming too high a dose of the substance, or of mixing certain drugs.

This is the effective treatment of dual pathology

Below we will explain what are the main characteristics of an effective treatment for dual pathology, based on the principles of the NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse), which are what we use as teams specialized in mental health and addictions

1. Treatment must be focused on the well-being of the person as a whole

The intervention should not be focused only on the addiction or only on the psychological disorder, but rather Its ultimate goal should be to significantly improve the quality of life of the patient.

Of course, for this it is important to take into account the different diagnostic pictures that may be affecting it, and apply the therapies that have been shown to be effective against these alterations, but without ceasing to treat personalized.

• You may be interested in: "5 Signs of Poor Mental Health You Shouldn't Ignore"

2. Treatment must be monitored and evaluated

The evaluation phase does not occur only at the beginning of the intervention to see what problems affect the person; constant evaluation must be carried out to detect the possible progress made, or the lack of it, to be able to make corrections at any stage of the treatment.

3. Family involvement should be sought

As far as possible, it is crucial to establish a fluid communication channel with the patient's relatives and encourage their involvement in the recovery of the health of this, both by giving them instructions on what they should not do to avoid harming their progress, and by giving guidelines to support that person in the domestic sphere.

• Related article: "Family therapy: types and forms of application"

4. Medicine and psychotherapy resources should be used

It is not necessary to adopt a closed and dogmatic vision about which is the perspective that best explains the problem of dual pathology of the person; if it is possible to combine pharmacological and psychotherapeutic resources to obtain better results and contribute to the improvement of health being maintained in the time, they must be used (of course, always from the professional accompaniment, not through self-medication or from “self-diagnoses” by the patient).

5. Detoxification is just one of the phases of treatment

If we only focus on detoxification, shortly after the drug has been eliminated from the person's body, they will use it again, relapsing again and again.

Therefore, it is essential to focus not only on the problem posed by the presence of psychoactive substances in the person's nervous system, but also intervene also in their patterns of behavior, thinking, managing emotions and ways of socializing. One part of the therapy is medical, and another is psychotherapeutic, training the person to better modulate their actions, their feelings, their way of communicating and resolving conflicts, etc.

• You may be interested in: "The importance of social skills to overcome addictions"

6. The person must be prepared to detect risky behaviors and trap thoughts

If the person is not trained to quickly detect situations that make it easy for them to relapse or that their emotional balance is greatly altered, will be more vulnerable to dual pathology.

Therefore, part of the treatment consists of metacognitive training, making the patient learn about their own mental processes from a distant perspective and as objective as possible (although without losing sight of your objectives and what interests you in order to maintain a good quality of life).

7. The therapeutic alliance is essential

Therapy is not limited to providing textual information (expressed in a spoken or written way) and medical resources. (such as psychotropic drugs). Beyond this logic of sender-receiver, it is essential to take care of the therapeutic relationship, so that the implication of the patient is facilitated and that he explains what is happening to him honestly, although without losing the professionalism on the part of the clinical staff (technically, therapists are not friends nor should they aspire to be, in order to truly help the people they attend).

• Related article: "The Rapport: 5 keys to create an environment of trust"

Do you need to have therapeutic support for dual pathology?

If you want to start a therapy process applied to dual pathology or an addiction problem, we invite you to contact us. In

Llaurant la Llum we specialize in the treatment of addictive disorders, offering both outpatient support and health and psychological assistance to through the intervention through income in our fully equipped residential module (and prepared for short, medium and long stays term). You will find us in Picassent (Valencia).