Comorbid Disorders Treatment

Many mental health care providers now understand that the best treatment approach to treating comorbidity is through interventions directed at all disorders or conditions that are present. People with serious mental illness and comorbid substance abuse may benefit from any of several types of programs, including:

• persuasion groups — groups of patients who may have similar or related problems and who meet with a therapist to discuss and work out problems
• social skills training — specific training designed to help patients improve social interactions with others
• assertive outreach — programs whose participants work in the community to identify people with single or comorbid illnesses and connect them to resources that can provide assistance
• combined drug therapy — various combinations of medications can successfully treat mental illness and comorbid disorders; for example, in addition to drugs that effectively treat a mental disorder, other medications can help improve associated symptoms of illness and decrease physiological cravings; combined treatment can help outpatients with comorbid illness maintain continuity and consistency of care and can also reduce hospitalization and improve social functioning

Many of the programs described above also involve behavioral approaches to treatment, similar to methods used by such groups as Weight Watchers and Alcoholics Anonymous. As noted earlier, while combination drug therapy for comorbidity can be effective, health care providers must customize the patient’s multiple drug regimen to yield the most effective result while minimizing or eliminating adverse effects.