Dual diagnosis can be a circumstance whereby two independent disorders are present, and most often denotes a co-occurring drug abuse and mental health disorder. A dual diagnosis will help a person that may not have been able to be helped before, stop drug or alcohol abuse by being accurately diagnosed and helped. Their mental health disorder could have been misdiagnosed, not diagnosed at all, or mistreated which could have triggered and led to their drug abuse problems. Establishing the fact someone is actually a dual diagnosis client not only helps establish an effective course of treatment for them, but may also help clients better understand what triggered their drug use and the way to prevent it later on. Addressing dual diagnosis may be a more extensive process when compared to a typical drug rehab program, and people who have a dual diagnosis might need to take part in an extensive aftercare program which may include proper medical support in addition to further treatment services. Being clinically determined to have co-occurring disorders doesn't mean that the individual should be medicated through out their lives either, and in fact a lot of people with a dual diagnosis experience far better outcomes when treated holistically and when alternative treatment solutions are employed.