Dual diagnosis can be a situation whereby two independent disorders are present, and most typically describes a co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorder. A dual diagnosis will help a person that might possibly not have been capable of being helped in the past, end substance abuse because they can be properly diagnosed and helped. Their mental health disorder could have been misdiagnosed, undiagnosed, or mistreated which could have prompted and led to their drug abuse problems. Establishing the reality that someone is in fact a dual diagnosis client not just helps establish an effective treatment course for them, but can also help clients better understand what led to their drug use and ways to prevent it in the foreseeable future. Addressing dual diagnosis might be a more extensive process than the usual typical drug rehab program, and people with a dual diagnosis might need to participate in an extensive aftercare program which may include appropriate medical support as well as further treatment services. Being clinically determined to have co-occurring disorders doesn't imply that the individual will need to be medicated through out their lives either, and actually lots of people with a dual diagnosis experience more effective outcomes when treated holistically and when alternative treatment solutions are utilized.