The dysthymic condition is no less dangerous for its subtlety. Dysthymia is a state of chronic mild depression, in which individuals are prone to states of sustained negative affect. What that means, in plain terms, is that dysthmics feel bad all the time, and thus are wont to turn to drug and alcohol addiction as a means of succor and relief. As should perhaps go without saying, a dysthymic addict cannot get sober without proper psychological care. The only catch is that the muted nature of dysthmyia itself can make that care hard to come by.

It is possible to be dysthymic without knowing it. The disease has none of the telltale hallmarks of clinical depression or bipolar disorder, and thus often goes overlooked by both victims and their doctors. This is especially troubling in the addiction treatment process, when proper dual diagnosis is vital to long-term recovery. The practical implication, then, is that you need to to find a rehab center that can evaluate you thoroughly and accurately. Healing has to start with an honest assessment of an addict’s psychological state. Short of that, you can’t ever expect to get sober for good.

The only successful addiction treatment is holistic addiction treatment. To that end, dual diagnosis is an essential part of any rehabilitation program. Dual diagnosis describes that process by which addiction is evaluated in the context of an addict’s general psychological health. It’s very often the case that addicts suffer from a range of psychiatric diseases, including depression

, dysthymia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, anxiety disorder, or general mood disorders. Only by eradicating those conditions can a rehab center hope to promote meaningful healing. And the eradication has to start with successful dual diagnosis.

Remember, substance abuse treatment can only work if it’s done the right way. If you’re going to get better, it’s going to be because you get help from experts you can trust. Successful dual diagnosis will change your life. For your own sake, don’t wait another day to start learning that truth for yourself.

Historically, addiction treatment programs, drug rehabs, alcohol rehabs and psychiatric hospitals, have treated dual diagnosis separately. This has not proved to be an effective addiction treatment approach, and today most addiction treatment programs, drug rehabs, alcohol rehabs and psychiatric hospitals treat both disorders concurrently.

Ideally, drug addiction, alcoholism and psychiatric disorders should be treated simultaneously.

The first step in addiction treatment for drug or alcohol addiction must be detoxification – a period of time during which the body is allowed to cleanse itself of alcohol and/or drugs and manage all withdrawal symptoms.

Detox should be medically monitored in a dual diagnosis treatment

program as medical challenges do occur. Time in detox varies, depending on what substances you are addicted to, the frequency of use and amount of usage.

Once stable in detox, a psychiatrist will assess you to determine the mental illness and how to best address it. Dual diagnosis treatment programs should take a gradual approach. Those with a dual diagnosis have to proceed at their own pace.

The goal of any quality dual diagnosis treatment program should be abstinence and medication compliance.

After completing drug addiction treatment or drug / alcohol rehab, you should be involved in psychiatric follow up and aftercare in the program you have completed in order to prevent relapse.

Not everyone is a candidate for inpatient dual diagnosis treatment programs. It all depends upon the severity of the problems and willingness of the patient. For people whose drug or alcohol addiction is not severe enough to warrant detox, an outpatient dual diagnosis treatment program might be the solution. It is important to note that while outpatient dual diagnosis treatment is certainly an option, it is for those who are extremely motivated. Denial is an inherent part of the problem with dual diagnosis. The person with dual diagnosis often does not have insight as to the seriousness and the scope of their problem. It can prove quite challenging to refrain from drug and alcohol use, while trying to manage psychiatric medications and a mental illness. For many, the structure of an inpatient dual diagnosis treatment program has made recovery from dual diagnosis that much easier.

Go to an alcohol treatment center and tell me those people ain’t the shit. Right? I mean, it’s like you go there with an alcohol problem and you come out completely cured. Well, it’s not like that, but it’s pretty damn close. My trip to an addiction treatment center was a life changing experience, for sure. I was already tripped out about having to get help for my drinking which I’m sure wasn’t a big help to the program, but alcohol rehab really got in there and made a change in my life. I know…corny, right? Well, let there be corn. I went in to an alcohol treatment center as a total lushy, stumbly, drunk. I didn’t just have problems holding my liquor, I wasn’t supposed to even be touching the stuff. I enrolled in the program and made a concerted effort to follow its guidelines to a tee. With time I was well on my way to becoming a sober entity again. It was definitely hard to do, but I was able to stick it out and get through the program. To this day I look back on those days as some the best decision making days of my life.

There’s a thing you learn, in addiction counseling. Actually, there are plenty of things you learn in addiction counseling…but there’s one that stands out from the rest, one that’s more important than all the others, really, insofar as it is ultimately the one upon which all the others are based:

It’s all up to you.

Not exactly earth-shattering, I guess…but there it is: It’s all up to you. Addiction counseling teaches you that addiction recovery is on your shoulders, that your success or failure in an addiction treatment program can only be a function of the effort you put it into it. If you want to get better, you will. If you don’t, you won’t. Nothing could ever be more simple than that.

Of course, it isn’t enough to just want; you’ve actually got to have the strength to turn that desire into action. And please, for you own sake: Find it. The strength. The courage. Find the resolve you need to make addiction treatment work, and to make addiction recovery real.

There’s no life quite so fulfilling as a sober life. You shouldn’t need addiction counseling to teach you that.