1
Disease of Obsession
SOWK 6103 Week 8 Assignment
Racquel Walsh
Walden University
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Co-occurring Disorder Influence Efforts to Stop Substance Abuse
The symptoms linked to co-occurring disorders can sway the attempts made to end the
abuse of a substance by disguising the symptoms of a mental illness and can also interfere with
an individual’s mental illnesses from seeking assistance (Capuzzi & Stauffer 2016). It can also
make it difficult for clinicians treatment to make a diagnosis of the mental disorder. Individuals
who use alcohol and/or drugs in order to disguise their mental illness can cause their symptoms
to worsen which in turn can make it more difficult to treat. Intersecting disorders can make find
the cause much more difficult to determine. The symptoms linked to the mental illness can copy
substance abuse symptoms.
Co-occurring disorders (CODs) can cause confusion during the treatment process as well
as cause potential negative health consequences. Treating the individual can be a complicated
task given the fact that both the mental health disorder and addiction must be treated and
addressed. Usually, one disorder at treated and addressed one at a time. In order to effectively
treat the individual, it is important to make use of integrated approaches where both disorders
will be treated and addressed.
Describe the symptoms and how substance abuse or an addictive behavior might
temporarily counteract the symptoms of the co-occurring disorder.
Addicts who have co-occurring disorders often tend to find that their mental health issues
