The strength and severity of symptoms are used to gauge a client’s current condition. Symptoms may be generated by the mental illness, the substance use disorder, or both at the same time. Patients with a dual diagnosis are treated for both conditions concurrently. 

Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) Versus Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHPs)

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) recommends that PHPs offer at least 20 hours of treatment per week. IOPs should offer at least nine treatment hours. Many PHPs currently offer about 40 hours of treatment per week. 

PHPs are intensive treatment options that take longer to complete than IOPs. Average attendance at a PHP can last from a few weeks to six months or as long as two years. The average length of stay in an IOP is between three and 12 months. 

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), PHPs should be attended for at least three months. Recent research suggests that even five days of treatment per week may not give clients enough time to fully replace self-defeating thoughts and behaviors with new habits and healthier ways of thinking. 

PHPs provide medical and psychiatric services that IOPs are not equipped to offer. Those services include medical care and psychiatric care for medication management. 

What Are the Treatment Components of PHP

Although PHPs differ in the treatment components they offer, most programs will include some combination of the following therapeutic interventions: 

• Group therapy
• Individual therapy or counseling
• Art therapy
• Addiction education
• Meditation and spirituality
• Psychodrama
• Family therapy
• Dialectical behavioral therapy
• Recreational therapy
• Medical treatment
• Treatment for coexisting disorders
• Drug and alcohol screening
• Medication management
• Educational and employment assistance
• Support and advocacy

When Is Partial Hospitalization Recommended?

• You currently require a high level of care, but you are still able to stay clean and sober without being in residential rehab.
• You have completed a partial hospitalization program, but you are currently at high risk for relapse.
• Your living arrangements involve substances, and you have little or no support.
• You are presently in an IOP, but you’re not making any progress.
• You have a coexisting psychiatric condition, and the symptoms are undermining your sobriety.
• You can’t function at work or at school.
• Your symptoms would require inpatient care if you were unable to attend a partial hospital program.
• You are medically stable, not drinking or using, and not a danger to yourself or others.
• You are motivated to participate in treatment.

Which Concurrent Disorders Are Most Common with a Dual Diagnosis?

Many mental illnesses are symptoms of addiction. On the other hand, many substance use disorders are fueled by mental illness. 

Addiction specialists believe that many clients with preexisting psychiatric conditions use addiction to block out the pain caused by the condition. The pain is intensified by an inability to let go of self-defeating behaviors. 

Adolescents with a dual diagnosis are more likely to seek out alcohol and other substances and to suffer from severe depression. Sixty percent of adolescents in drug treatment have a coexisting mental illness. 

The most common co-occurring conditions in a dual diagnosis are anxiety disorders, personality disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mood disorders, and schizophrenia. 

Dual diagnosis treatment is designed for anxious, overwhelmed, and depressed clients who currently need a lot of support to negotiate an onslaught of symptoms.

How Do I Find the Right Treatment Program?

Schedule an evaluation and assessment with a dual-diagnosis specialist who is knowledgeable about the symptoms of concurrent conditions. Psychiatric symptoms can interact in unexpected ways with substance abuse symptoms. It’s essential that coexisting conditions are treated separately.

What to Expect From a Partial Hospitalization Program

Upon arrival, patients receive a designated primary therapist who works closely with the treatment team and coordinates the patient’s personal treatment plan. The patient’s family and loved ones are encouraged to participate in all aspects of treatment.

Lunch is usually included in the program. Some treatment centers provide transportation to and from the treatment facility. 

All therapies and treatments are designed to stabilize mood, increase coping skills and improve interpersonal communication. Participants explore core matters related to self-esteem and personal identity. 

A psychiatrist who is part of your treatment team will evaluate your condition and prescribe appropriate medication if you don’t have a regular prescription provider.

After a full diagnostic interview, another member of your treatment team will perform a physical exam and take your medical history. 

You’ll be screened for drugs and alcohol as well as for concurrent mental illnesses that might require special attention. Drug and alcohol screenings will continue randomly throughout treatment. 

Using the information gathered so far, you and your team will develop a customized treatment plan that sets forth the goals to be reached during treatment. The treatment plan should also include detailed discharge and relapse prevention plans. 

Medication management is an essential element in most PHPs. For example, you may be prescribed drugs such as buprenorphine or methadone to help with opioid withdrawal. 

What Is a Typical Day in a Partial Hospitalization Program?

A variety of therapies are used to help people recover from addiction and mental illness. Most therapy takes place in groups. However, many programs offer individual therapy or one-on-one counseling as well. 

Group therapy focuses on helping people to achieve the goals they set in their treatment plans. Clients learn to practice mindfulness in the face of addiction-driven thoughts and behaviors. 

Participants identify their triggers and develop strategies to neutralize the threat. Clients attend skill-building sessions and learn to replace maladaptive thoughts with a positive attitude. Clients are equipped with tools that can reduce self-defeating behavior over time.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) helps clients to pinpoint self-destructive thoughts that drive addiction and cause self-destructive behavior. Self-defeating thoughts that are allowed to run rampant can quickly become triggers that ignite the process of relapse. 

When you know all your triggers and you have a strategy to deal with them, you are much less likely to “go back out.” 

Contingency Management

This behavioral therapy rewards the attainment of treatment goals. It’s similar to the AA practice of marking time in recovery with chips. The validation and recognition that accompany the attainment of each goal help clients to feel empowered and increasingly aware of their own potential. 

Twelve-step Facilitation

Twelve-step programs appeared almost a century ago with the emergence of Alcoholics Anonymous. Today, there are 12-step programs for every imaginable addiction. AA and NA meetings are considered a critical treatment component in a lasting recovery plan.

Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET)

The effectiveness of MET as a treatment modality depends on which substance was used by the client and what the goals of the intervention are. This therapy has helped to recover alcoholics from engaging more fully with the treatment process and from reducing problem drinking. 

MET has also been used successfully in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy to treat adults with an addiction to marijuana. The effectiveness of MET for reducing the use of drugs other than marijuana has not been established.

If you want a life of recovery, focus on reaching your treatment goals regardless of any obstacles and no matter how long it takes. 

The specialists at Mid Hudson Addiction Recovery are here to help you find treatment options that support your goals. Call us now or visit us online to learn more.