Substance Use Disorders

1799 Words4 Pages

Substance use disorders and mental health disorder can be challenging for human services professionals as well as for the individual; combined these disorders together and treatment can be seemingly insurmountable. The complexity of the disorders separately, as well as together raises the need for treatment that looks at the whole person not just a set of symptoms. The debate between which disorder came first is useless at helping to resolve the problems that are currently occurring with these complex disorders. According to Stevens & Smith (2013), over five million adults have a co-occurring disorder. With such high number it’s no surprise that the amount of money that is spending on co-occurring disorders is staggering and far exceeds that …show more content…

They can come in different forms and severities. They can vary from anxiety, changes in mood, difficulty with focusing or behaving appropriately and unwanted thoughts that can includes in auditory and visual hallucinations as well as a false understanding of reality. The most commonly diagnosed mental health disorder is anxiety disorders, followed by depressive disorders. Mental health disorders can occur at a stage of life and can occur once, reoccur intermittently, or be a chronic condition. In 2014, an estimated 43.6 million American’s above the age of 18 has form of mental illness (SAMSHA). Mental disorders frequently co-occur with each other and with substance use disorders. Substance use disorders occur when the recurrent use of alcohol and/or drugs causes clinically significant impairment, including health problems, disability, and failure to meet major responsibilities at work, school, or home. In 2014, about 21.5 million Americans were classified with a substance use disorder in the past year. …show more content…

The NSDUH reports that individuals with a mental illness is more like to also have a chronic health condition and are more likely to use hospitalization and emergency room treatment (NSDUH, 2014). According to SAMSHA (n.d.), 50% of Medicaid enrollees have a diagnosable mental health condition. Individuals with a diagnosed mental health condition have health care cost that is 75% higher than those without a mental health diagnosis (SAMSHA, n.d.). For an individual with a co-occurring disorder the cast is nearly three times higher than what the average Medicaid

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