1.1 Introduction to concurrent disorders

A Family Guide to Concurrent Disorders - Part I: What are concurrent disorders?

Outline - Chapter 1: Introduction to concurrent disorders

Introduction to Chapter 1
How common are concurrent disorders?
The relationship between substance use and mental health problems
The impact of concurrent disorders
An introduction to treatment

We were just like any other family with teenagers, except that while our daughter was a real extrovert—she had so many friends, did well in school, never caused us any problems—you know, the kind of kid who can do no wrong . . . our son was so different, the complete opposite. He had friends growing up, but then it seemed like, out of the blue, he didn't want to be around anyone, including his own family. He just got so isolated, you know? He was always a quiet kid, but this was different. When my husband caught him smoking marijuana, and then found bottles of alcohol in his closet, it suddenly all started making sense . . . booze and drugs were causing him to crawl into his own little world and withdraw from other people. To tell you the truth, we were actually relieved to find out about his drug problem—we had a plan, you know? We could do something concrete to help him, like put him in rehab for teens. The real nightmare started when he wouldn't even go out of the house to see our family doctor. Even when we made sure he wasn't smoking pot or drinking, he still got worse! It was another two years before we found out that he had a mental illness as well as a drug problem. We had never heard of concurrent disorders before then.

The term concurrent disorders describes a situation where someone has both a substance use problem and a mental health problem at some point in their lifetime. It could be in the past. (Has your family member ever had a mental health problem? Has your family member ever had a substance use problem?) Or it could be a current problem. (Does your family member currently have both a mental health problem and a substance use problem?)

Many families share similar experiences to those of the family whose story is introduced this chapter. Substance use and mental health problems can lead to symptoms and behaviours that look very similar, so family members and treatment professionals often find it difficult to determine whether the behaviour they are looking at is due to a substance use problem or a mental health problem—or both. This chapter is an introduction to concurrent disorders: