12 steps in mental illness with addiction

by Kat West
(Atlanta)

As a person who suffers from bipolar depression first and foremost and became dependent/abused one of my medications - klonopin, I found myself being treated more as a drug addict than as a mentally ill person. People avoided "enabling" me and turned their back on a serious mental illness. this response to my illness resulted in a serious suicide attempt that I barely survived (120 xanax - i wasn't kidding around).

I have become to hate 12 step programs and the one-sidedness of the patient with a dual diagnosis. I have been treated first as an addict by many health care providers which landed me in a more hopeless situation than i could have ever imagined. The person with a dual diagnosis is like a cancer patient dependent on pain meds.
Do you ignore the cancer and focus on the potential problem with pain killers?

For the psych patient, many of the drugs are essentially pain killers of the heart and soul. more focus needs to be put on dealing with the underlying cause of substance abuse when it exists as turning one's back on the mentally ill person is a heartless and dangerous act.