Dual Diagnosis Treatment: Your Integrated Care Plan for Addiction and PTSD

Dual Diagnosis Treatment: Your Integrated Care Plan for Addiction and PTSD

People who are battling addiction may also have an underlying mental health disorder that needs attention. Unfortunately, many with a dual diagnosis don’t get the care they need for both of their conditions.

At Revolution Psychiatric and Addiction Treatment, our addiction specialist, Richard E. Repass, MD, understands the connection between mental health disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addiction to drugs or alcohol.

For this reason, Dr. Repass offers customized dual diagnosis treatment options to help you find long-lasting recovery success from addiction and mental health issues at the same time.

Understanding a dual diagnosis

A dual diagnosis describes a situation where a mental disorder and an addiction occur together.

Dual diagnosis situations are common because many with an untreated mental health disorder turn to alcohol or drugs to cope with the side effects a mental health issue can cause. The chronic use of drugs like opioids or cannabis or alcohol can exacerbate your symptoms of an unmanaged mental health condition.

The link between conditions like PTSD and addiction is very strong, and often it’s difficult to know which condition occurred first.

By not treating both conditions at the same time, you can easily fall back to addiction and experience a worsening of your mental health symptoms.

Connection between PTSD and addiction

PTSD is a mental health disorder that develops after a traumatic event. You can be directly involved in the event or be a witness to it. Symptoms of PTSD can happen right away, but it can also take months or years to occur.

PTSD symptoms can include:

Avoiding certain people, places, or things that remind you of the event or isolating yourself away from others can also be a side effect of PTSD. In isolation, you may turn to alcohol or drugs to cope and ultimately develop an addiction.

People in active addiction can also experience isolation and other symptoms of PTSD, creating a vicious cycle that’s hard to break on your own.

Dual diagnosis treatments for PTSD and addiction

In the dual diagnosis treatments available at Revolution Psychiatric and Addiction Treatment, Dr. Repass offers medically supervised detox services to help you safely withdraw from drugs or alcohol without serious side effects.

We use infusions of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), a substance already in your body that supports energy production, DNA repair, and enhanced cell-to-cell communication. Drinking and drug use lowers your natural NDA levels, which can leave you feeling wiped out.

To optimize your health, we use a special BR+NAD™ product for your infusions, which reduces your cravings for alcohol or drugs. BR+NAD also boosts your mood and cognitive function and restores the health of your nervous system.

After drugs and alcohol clear from your body, Dr. Repass can address your PTSD symptoms and support your recovery in psychotherapy (talk therapy) sessions. He helps you uncover the negative thoughts and behaviors that contribute to your addiction, so you can learn how to use healthier coping strategies.

Call us at Revolution Psychiatric and Addiction Treatment in Mercer Island, Washington, to learn more about dual diagnosis treatments for PTSD today. We serve the greater Seattle and Bellevue area.

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