IDENTIFYING
NEEDS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CLIENT
POPULATION
OF THE DUAL DIAGNOSIS UNIT (COGNITIVE
DISABILITIES
AND MENTAL DISTURBANCES)
S.
Mashiach, Y. Noiman
Beit
Issie Shapiro , Israel
The Community Unit
for Dual Diagnosis at Beit Issie Shapiro opened
two years ago, and
provides services for children and adults with dual
diagnosis. Dual
diagnosis, which is often referred to as "co-existing
disorders",
refers to people with cognitive disabilities who also suffer
from psychiatric
disorders or behavioral disturbances. Persons with
cognitive
disabilities suffer from psychiatric disturbances more than
the normal
population. Many studies show that people with dual
diagnosis require
unique, multi-disciplinary care for the purpose of
diagnosis and
establishing a treatment procedure suitable to their
unique needs. These
clients require a more complex diagnostic
process, and there
is often a need to involve family members and
other factors in
the change process. The unit was established with the
objective of
providing suitable, comprehensive solutions for this
population, and
enabling them to continue to live within the community
while utilizing
their unique potential and improving their quality of life.
The Dual Diagnosis
Unit operates according to a systematic, multidisciplinary
outlook. The staff
consists of various professionals
including a
psychiatrist, social worker, psychologist, occupational
therapist, speech
therapist, and family therapist. The presentation will
deal with personal
and family characteristics of the clients treated in
the unit as
expressed in the past two years of the unit's operation. We
will describe the
various needs of the clients themselves, their
families, and the
systems that treat them, and discuss the degree to
which the different
systems respond and the various difficulties that
we encounter in
applying the recommendations.
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