What is a Co-Occurring Condition?

"Co-occurring Condition" is defined as having at least one mental condition as well as a drug use disorder. While these conditions may interact differently in any one person (e.g., an episode of depression may trigger relapse into alcohol abuse, or cocaine use may intensify schizophrenic symptoms), at least one disorder of each type can be diagnosed independently of the other. Other terms used to describe this disorder are comorbidity and dual diagnosis.

For any particular client, co-occurring disorders developed out of the same set of life experiences and physiological and psychological elements. It follows that treatment and recovery issues for each disorder must be considered simultaneously. For example, symptoms of one disorder serve as all-too-effective relapse triggers for the other disorder and vice versa. The fact is these are not discrete problems with discrete solutions.

Because co-occurring disorders are complex problems, treatment approaches and development at House of Metamorphosis is an interdisciplinary team work of alcohol and drug counselors and mental health counselors.