As a country, we owe our freedom and status as leading nation to our veterans. Sadly, these heroes often return home to a lack of support to handle the backlash of their service to our country.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, commonly afflicts those who served in our armed forces. Substance abuse disorders are equally common and, when combined with PTSD, can make treating either issue more complicated.
There is no shame in developing a substance abuse disorder as no community or demographic has proven immune to substance abuse. The disease of addiction is a complex and devastating illness that affects people mentally, physically, and spiritually.
Veterans deserve only the best medical treatment. Most veterans will require an addiction treatment center that is equipped to handle clients with dual-diagnosis, also termed co-occurring disorders. Treatment centers that treat dual-diagnosis clients understand that both the substance abuse disorder and co-occurring mental illness, such as PTSD, must be treated simultaneously for successful recovery.
This means therapeutic methods aimed at both healing the trauma and learning new ways of coping with stress and triggers without the use of mood and mind-altering substances.
Below is a list of treatment centers that treat clients with co-occurring disorders and thus are capable of treating our nation’s veterans.