People with psychosis often develop an addiction disorder: almost one in two patients with schizophrenia are affected once during their lifetime. Patients with a dual diagnosis mostly have a poorer prognosis, and their disorder often becomes chronic. Euphrosyne Gouzoulis-Mayfrank and colleagues investigated in a randomized controlled study in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2015; 112: 683-91) whether disorder-specific treatment can improve patients’ motivation to remain abstinent and reduce their substance misuse. They applied an evaluated therapeutic program that would be easy to implement in standard care.
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My experience very much supports the view that sz-specific tx is far superior to the one-size-fits-all “dual dx” tx schemes typical in many community mental health and government-funded facilities.
http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/dualdiag.html
https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Related-Conditions/Dual-Diagnosis
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