What is Dual Pathology: Addiction and other Mental illness?

 

Most people with an addictive disorder are also diagnosed with mental disorders and vice versa. A number of different terms have been applied to refer to the vast population of patients with both an addictive disorder and another mental illness, including comorbidity, dual diagnosis, dual disorders, mentally ill chemical abusers, chemically addicted mentally ill, co-occurring disorder, or comorbid disorder. However, the operational definitions of these different terms vary significantly and vary within distinct clinical and social settings.

 

Furthermore, these terms have different connotations, and some of them have been applied to diverse groups of patients with a variety of two or more coexisting conditions such as learning disability and mental health problems, personality disorder with an additional psychiatric illness, or sexual dysfunction and an associated mental disorder. To address this terminological conundrum, this WPA Section proposes and, therefore, has chosen to use the term ‘dual pathology', and Thus the section is named "Section on Dual Disorders".

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More detailed information about Dual Disorders and the Section can be read here.