by Jackie Luv

Created on: January 21, 2007   Last Updated: March 18, 2009

Mental Illness is one of the hardest illnesses to treat in the modern world. Where does one draw the line between insanity and a sound mind? What if someone is under the influence of drugs or alcohol? How do you know if a person is under the influence or if they have a diagnosable mental illness? In many cases a person who has been drinking is simply considered drunk if they start acting a little funny, and their sentences start coming out in a slur. The term, mentally ill does not immediately come to mind. Sometimes a mentally ill person will start talking and slur all their sentences too. That person is not always under the influence.

Chemical dependency does not neccassarily go hand in hand with mental illness, nor does mental illness go hand in hand with chemical dependency. Each condition has extremely similar symptoms though, symptoms like the slurred speech mentioned above. Consider someone with bi-polar who suddenly starts talking about their dog but then changes to the subject to housing rates, and then to aliens on mars, and then the meaning of Arch Angels in the Bible in one sentence. Someone under the influence without bi-polar, but who is under the influence might start a similar conversation. That is one of the things that makes diagnosis so difficult. A doctor has to ask themselves whether the symptoms they are seeing are either the effects of illegal substances and booze or if they are the effects of bi-polar. The doctor then has to examine whether or not a person is affected with both a chemical dependancy problem and bi-polar. The reality is that any of the above diagnosis' could be right. With all the choices it's hard to get the right diagnosis, and an accurate diagnosis is often the starting point of good treatment.

Comorbity, a dual diagnosis of both a mental illness and a chemical dependancy, is often the accurate diagnosis with someone who has bi-polar. Since it is usually accurate many people diagnosed with bi-polar may be unfairly labled as having a chemical dependancy problem, because some Doctors recycle an accurate diagnos for a person they saw yesterday for the individual they see today. Today's individual is different from yesterdays, and needs to be examined seperately from averages and statistics so that medical staff can find out what the unique individual needs. The commoness of a comorbid diagnosis can perpetuate false perceptions and disaproval for the bi-polar individuals who have stayed away from addictive substances,

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