One of the things that make treating addiction so difficult is each client enters rehab under very unique circumstances. Each client comes in with a different story to tell and different circumstances surrounding their need to abuse substances. That’s why so many Florida rehab centers have shifted away from a cookie-cutter approach to treatment. They now put more focus on creating custom treatment programs for each client, which gives therapists more treatment options from which to choose.
While a lot of things differ for each client, there is a common theme we see running through a lot of underlying circumstances. We see a lot of clients who are also dealing with significant mental health issues. When we realize clients are dealing with multiple problems, it forces us to consider a wider range of treatment options.
If you are reading this information, it’s possible you believe you might have a borderline personality disorder as well as an addiction problem. Perhaps, you already have a borderline personality disorder diagnosis and have already been in treatment for that problem. That’s information that a rehab facility’s personnel would need to know. Why?
If there is a direct correlation between a mental health issue and the addiction problem, you would have what the addiction treatment community refers to as co-occurring disorders. If you have co-occurring disorders, it would drastically change the scope of your treatment.
In response to the titled question, yes, people with an addiction problem and a borderline personality disorder would be treated differently. Under such circumstances, the rehab facility’s staff would want to employ something called “dual diagnosis therapy.”
This is clearly a serious matter. It’s serious enough that we would like to provide you with some very important information about dual diagnosis therapy. Please keep reading.
About Dual Diagnosis Therapy
Within the addiction treatment community, dual diagnosis therapy is the proper call if there is a correlation between the addiction problem and the borderline personality disorder. By correlation, we are referring to the idea that one disorder is the proximate cause of the other.
For instance, living with borderline personality disorder can be very stressful. It’s not uncommon for people with such a diagnosis to turn to drugs/alcohol as a means of coping with their mental health issues. Before they realize it, they end up doubling down on their problems.
In case you are wondering, causation does go the other direction as well. It is possible for a mentally healthy individual to fall victim to mental health issues because of their substance abuse. We see it all the time with clients who experience depression and anxiety because of the way drugs/alcohol has destroyed their lives.
As for dual diagnosis therapy, this is the only viable treatment option for someone with co-occurring disorders. Again, we cannot stress enough that there has to be a direct correlation between the disorders. This matters because dual diagnosis treatment programs are specifically designed to treat both disorders at the same time. This is absolutely necessary because the untreated disorder will often interfere with the addiction treatment process.
For the rehab facility’s part, they would need to provide a therapist that is certified to treat both addiction and mental health issues. Hopefully, this can be done with the same therapist handling both sides of the dual diagnosis therapy program.
If the rehab facility doesn’t have a therapist with dual certifications, the client would need to work with multiple therapists throughout the treatment process. If the rehab facility doesn’t maintain a mental health treatment specialist on staff, the rehab facility would have to outsource said treatment to an outside specialist. That puts extra pressure on the client because of the inconvenience and continuity of care issues it would create.
We offer you this information as the client because it will affect the amount of time you will need to commit to treatment. It’s a situation where you have to take extraordinary steps to deal with an extraordinary situation.
We hope you are ready to seek treatment for your addiction problem. Don’t let the fact you have borderline personality disorder stand in the way of you getting treatment. We do have the capacity to offer your access to a dual diagnosis therapy solution. The first thing you need to do is resolve yourself to the fact you need help. You can then proceed to pick up the phone and contact us at 833-846-5669. From that initial call, we’ll make an effort to tell you about our services and convince you to come in for an appointment.