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Addiction and comorbidity
Comorbidity in addiction
It is common for people with addiction to also be dealing with a mental health disorder. When two or more diagnoses are at play at the same time, we speak of a multiple diagnosis or comorbidity. One can be the cause for the other or they reinforce each other. When you have another addiction or mental disorder in addition to your addiction we speak of a dual diagnosis. Addiction often occurs in combination with depression, personality disorder or trauma.
Addiction and depression
Addiction frequently occurs in conjunction with depression. Your depression may stem from substance use or you may start using substances to reduce depressive feelings. It can be very difficult to distinguish which of the two is the cause. Therefore, at U-center, we treat your addiction and depression simultaneously in an intensive and comprehensive treatment program.
U-center is an expert in treating comorbidity. During your treatment, you will work on yourself with various psychologists, therapists and psychiatrists. In our multidisciplinary treatment team, you will work on your addiction and other factors at the same time.
Trauma and addiction
PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is also common in combination with addiction. After a traumatic experience, you may continue to suffer from anxiety, panic, nightmares and unpleasant memories for months. Often an addiction develops to suppress this traumatic event and alcohol, medication or drugs are used to numb the painful memories. In this case, we speak of a dual diagnosis or a multiple diagnosis. During an inpatient stay at U-center, we treat your PTSD and addiction simultaneously along with other underlying factors.
Addiction and personality disorder
A personality disorder can cause recurring problems within your work or personal life. It also often occurs in combination with other symptoms, such as anxiety, depression and addiction. People with this diagnosis are often more susceptible to addiction to alcohol, drugs or medications. Some personality disorders can lead to addiction, such as with borderline or dependent personality disorder. Therefore, to master your addiction, it is important to treat both diagnoses at the same time.
Addiction and mental illness treatment
U-center specializes in treating multiple problems. Often there are multiple causes or consequences that maintain your addiction and mental illness. Therefore, we work from an integral approach in which we include everything that affects your addiction. In an intensive treatment program, you will work with all of the problems simultaneously. Together with the treatment team, you will investigate the causes of your addiction and work on the behavioral patterns that are maintaining your symptoms.
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Last updated on 22-07-2022
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