Co-occurring disorders

Co-occurring disorders. The occurrence of other disorders along with the drug problem also called dual diagnosis or comorbid disorders. 

It is important to screen patients for co-occurring mental disorders, and their presence may become more apparent during the stabilization or maintenance phases of schizophrenia treatment. Examples include substance abuse disorders, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder. As co-occurring disorders will limit symptom and functional improvement and increase the risk of relapse, it is critical that they be appropriately treated. Pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions specific for the co-occurring disorder should be implemented in combination with evidence-based treatment for schizophrenia. 

Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2005. Substance abuse treatment for persons with co-occurring disorders. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 42. DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 05-3992. Rockville, MD Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

Medications to Treat Co-occurring Psychiatric Symptoms or Disorders in Alcoholic Patients... 

In summary, research on the use of antidepressants to treat cannabis dependence, particularly among individuals with comorbid major depressive disorder, although limited, offers a promising avenue for the development of pharmacological aids to assist in the treatment of cannabis withdrawal. There are clear parallels between this literature and the existing research on the use of antidepressants in the treatment of alcohol dependence comorbid with major depressive disorder (see Chapter 1, Medications to Treat Co-occurring Psychiatric Symptoms or Disorders in Alcoholic Patients). 

For years, psychiatric and drug abuse disorders were not even treated together. Now we know they commonly co-occur, which means for many years clients were getting only partial treatment. Even today we are still not sure how to treat these co-occurring conditions simultaneously in a consistently effective way with both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy (see Chapter 5). The next century is likely to see many advances in both pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy to treat co-occurring conditions. There are effective methods to treat drug abuse and to treat other co-occurring psychiatric disorders. The next frontier in research is to learn how to combine these approaches in a way that can treat multiple disorders at once ... 

Antisocial Personality Disorder may be co-occurring with the drug use. Many more men meet criteria for this disorder than women, but there are women who do meet these criteria. Sometimes borderline (described later in this section) behavior can be mistaken for antisocial, and certainly there can be overlap between the two disorders. However, clients with whom I ve worked who have borderline features generally have the capacity to care about other people, whereas people who are antisocial may not have this capacity. 

Disorders Commonly Co-occurring With Drug Problems... 

In this section, I will review what is known about the best practices for treating disorders that commonly co-occur with a drug problem. This discussion is not meant to be an exhaustive list nor an exhaustive description of each therapy, but is meant to point you in the right direction if you want to learn more. 

For Information About Treating Co-occurring Mental Health Disorders ... 

For Information About Co-occurring Physical Health Disorders, including HIV ... 

Blume, A. W., Marlatt, G. A. (2000). Recent important losses predict readi-ness-to-change scores in people with co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Addictive Behaviors, 25, 461—464. 

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