Dual diagnosis can be a circumstance whereby two independent disorders exist, and most typically describes a co-occurring drug or alcohol use and mental health disorder. A dual diagnosis might help someone who might possibly not have been able to be helped in the past, stop drug abuse because they can be properly diagnosed and helped. Their mental health disorder may have been misdiagnosed, not diagnosed at all, or treated incorrectly that could have triggered and led to their drug abuse issues. Establishing the truth that someone is certainly a dual diagnosis client not only helps establish an efficient treatment course for them, but could also help clients better understand what led to their drug use and ways to prevent it in the foreseeable future. Handling dual diagnosis can be a more extensive process than the usual typical drug rehab program, and people who have a dual diagnosis might be required to participate in an extensive aftercare program that might include appropriate medical support along with continued rehab services. Being clinically determined to have co-occurring disorders doesn't mean that the individual will have to be medicated through out their lives either, and in fact a lot of people who have a dual diagnosis experience more effective outcomes when treated holistically and when alternative therapy is employed.