The dual diagnosis program will use both medical and psychiatric approaches to treat the addiction and the mental illness. First the person is led into a detox program. Once the detox program is completed, the patient is led into a psychiatric care program. Here the patient’s mental condition is checked by a mental health expert.

Depending on what disorder is present, the symptoms of a dual diagnosis patient can be different.some of these disorders include: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anti-social personality disorder, narcissistic personality, and depression. What takes time to find out is if the presenting symptoms were created from the drug and alcohol use or were present all along.

To avoid reversion, the dually diagnosed person must keep their disorder in check and take their prescribed medication, and to avoid the deterioration of the psychiatric disorder, the addict must not return to the use or abuse of drugs/alcohol.

People with dual diagnosis are often in denial. They may ignore their issues completely or not take their problems as seriously as they should. Often, family and friends must resort to having a professional intervention in order to get the person into a dual diagnosis treatment program so the recovery process can begin.