Teen Dual Diagnosis

Teens are often referred to treatment for substance abuse but are not referred to a qualified mental health professional for appropriate diagnosis and treatment of any underlying cause for their drug and alcohol abuse. This is a major problem. Many teens may suffer from a teen dual diagnosis. However, many teens have symptoms of a mood disorder that may in fact lead to self-medicating with street drugs and alcohol.

Families and caregivers know how difficult it is to find treatment for teens who abuse drugs or alcohol but also is diagnosed with a brain disorder (mental illness); i.e., ADHD, depression, or bipolar disorder. When a teen has both the following conditions listed above, the teen has teen dual diagnosis. Usually, teen dual diagnosis programs that treat individuals with brain disorders do not treat individuals with active substance abuse problems well enough, and programs for substance abusers are not geared for people with mental illness. Troubled teens are often caught in this treatment or services gap. At Echo Malibu we specialize in treatment that tackles teen dual diagnosis disorders from all angles, as it should. Teen dual diagnosis is a serious problem and needs to be accordingly.

Some people wonder if dual diagnosis is common. The truth is that more than half of teens that have a substance abuse problem also suffer from a mental disorder. The scary part is that so many of these disorders are not treated properly. And if these disorders are not treated properly then teens can never really get better. If a teen does not heal than other disorders are easier to get and the teen fall down the harmful spiral that can destroy the teen's life.

Echo Malibu is an intensive teen inpatient program. Stays with us can range from a couple of weeks to a month or even longer depending on how long it takes for a teen to recover. We truly want your teen to get better and that is why we do not want to put a time limit on anyone's stay with us.

Contact Echo Malibu today. All you have to do is get in touch with us and we will take care of the rest. Just because recovering is hard does not mean that finding help should be.