Co-occurring Disorders

Susan’s Legacy is exclusively for women with co-occurring disorders.  The term “co-occurring disorder” means that an individual has a diagnosis of both a mental illness and substance use disorder. This terminology replaces the older name of “dual diagnosis.” SAMHSA’s Co-Occurring Center of Excellence 2007 estimates 5.2 million people in the United States are affected by this diagnosis.

Co-occurring disorders are not widely understood by either mental health professionals or by people who work with substance use disorders and therefore are often not properly assessed. These disorders are grouped together because they need to be treated together if recovery is to occur.  Both must be treated with the same emphasis. 

Separate treatment of each condition will only exacerbate both disorders.  The most common problem for a client is maintaining sobriety when substance abuse is the only tool she has used to cope with her mental disorder.  When a client is being treated for a substance use disorder but not her mental disorder, she may be able to achieve sobriety but often can not maintain it.  The untreated mental disorder can drive a client to self medicate, reactivating her addiction. 

It is important to know if co-occurring disorders exist because symptoms of each disorder can affect symptoms of the other disorder, leading to no recovery and a diminished quality of life. For example, a person with an undiagnosed psychiatric disorder such as depression may abuse drugs to alleviate the symptoms of depression. If the person gets treatment for the drug addiction but not for depression, the depression still exists and the need for relief from its symptoms continues. The person will end up using drugs again to continue to manage her depressive symptoms.

Mental and substance use disorders carry significant shame in many social and cultural groups.  This shame can prevent potential clients from identifying relapse triggers to both themselves and their health care professionals.  Improved awareness, tolerance and the increased accuracy of diagnosis can provide higher quality services and improve outcomes dramatically.

When there is a better understanding of the connection between substance use and psychiatric disorders there is a profound effect on treatment, recovery, prevention and recidivism.  

            "Since being here in Susan’s Legacy, my life has changed dramatically. I have my very own apartment. I really like my case manager and I know I can call on her for anything. I enjoy my group counseling and life skills classes. I have learned a lot! We are like family here!"
                                                                                Kelly