Dual Diagnosis
Dual Diagnosis describes people who have mental heath problems and drug or alcohol problems. The mental health problems may include schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder or Personality Disorder.
Dual diagnosis is a term commonly used to describe people who have a combination of mental health problems, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and personality disorder as well as an alcohol or drug problems (also known as ‘substance misuse'). This is what we mean by dual diagnosis, but you might also see dual diagnosis used in other contexts, such as when someone has a mental health problem and a learning disability.
It is common for someone with a mental health problem to also have problems with alcohol and drug use.
Having a dual diagnosis usually involves more than the two issues of mental health and substance misuse. For example, issues can arise with physical health and wellbeing, social functioning, money and housing.
The diagnosis of a mental health condition is made by a doctor or psychiatrist. It is important that during a mental health assessment the potential role of substance misuse is looked at .
The symptoms of psychosis brought on by drug use (‘drug-induced psychosis’) and psychotic illness can overlap and even mask each other making an accurate diagnosis difficult.
If psychosis is an ongoing problem (rather than a one-off result of drug-use) it’s important to treat it, no matter what the cause.
