Have services closed the gap in delivering appropriate support in dual diagnosis working - Literature review Example

Likewise, patients that suffer from mental illness are quite likely to sustain their substance use habits throughout their life as compared to people who are mentally healthy (Mueser, Noordsy, and Drake 6). Therefore, it can be said that the disorders of an individual’s mood serve as the risk factor for other disorders that are related to the use of substance and vice versa (Westermeyer, Weiss, and Ziedonis 69). Depression, anxiety and tension are some of the types of upsets in the mental health (Department of Health cited in The Scottish Government).

Substances most commonly abused are marijuana, heroin, tobacco, alcohol and alcoholic medicines. Treatment of such people requires the medical practitioner to study the history of the individual and find out which of the two occurred with the individual first. Either he/she acquired the mental illness first which probably caused him/her to consume drugs in order to relieve the tension, or else, he/she first became addicted to drugs which later led the individual to the deteriorated mental health and low self esteem.

There are many ways this can happen. For instance, some people get the psychotic episode triggered upon smoking marijuana (“Dual Diagnosis”). . Once someone gets addicted to a substance, he/she starts taking it more frequently than others would mostly do. In such circumstances, all an intervention can do is to reduce the frequency with which the substance is consumed by the client. Thus, a service provider may effectively reduce the quantity of substance consumption, though the achievement of quality in intervention requires consideration of the problem at a much detailed and deeper level.

Many service providers resort to such methods of treatment as counseling, prescribing substitutes for substances and encouraging group work. Mostly, these are the only techniques available to most practitioners, and their usability is limited. Reaching the correct underlying factors is extremely essential for appropriate treatment, which can not be achieved unless the addiction has been reduced to a considerably lower level. “If your client has chronic substance dependence, making substance treatment successful has to be the goal over accessing mental health services” (Thomas).

The service of mental health assumes the main responsibility of offering comprehensive care to the people that suffer from such mental problems as co-morbid substance use problems and schizophrenia. Mental health service can be used to provide people with long term care and supervision than most services related to substance misuse can offer. According to results of the research conducted by (Menezes cited in Hughes 5), one third of the total number of users of mental health service are individuals that have combined problems of mental health.

Cannabis, alcohol and other stimulants are some of the most widely consumed things