Aside from my own experience, I would recommend the following and believe psychologically it is proven that dealing with the drug addiction before the PTSD is the safest and most effective method of recovery. In the case of the comorbidity between drug addiction and PTSD it can be very challenging for those who are treating the patient and present a case of dual diagnosis. The treatment of drug addiction before PTSD can be practiced through the sequential model meaning that patients with drug addiction seek treatment with their addiction before they treat their PTSD symptoms. “One study of cocaine – dependent individuals with PTSD found that improvement in PTSD was typically associated with reduction in drug use (63.6%) and that a worsening …show more content…
If trying an attempt to treat PTSD before drug addiction, using a trauma or exposure focused approach may cause the patient to relapse or continue to use substances. The exposure therapy is an effective model for treating just PTSD without a comorbid drug addiction. “This therapy is based on behavioral principles where the client is exposed to imaginal and/or in vivo cues related to the traumatic event in order for the client to habituate to the cues and thus reduce the fear response elicited by them” (Bashnagel, Coffey, Rash, 2006). Beside the sequential model, another popular method for treating addiction and PTSD is the Seeking Safety method. This model consist of “an average of 25 60–90 minute sessions covering a wide variety of topics such as decreasing risky behaviors, setting boundaries, and coping with substance triggers, to name a few” (Berenz, Coffey, 2012). This model however, is a stage one model of treating these two disorders and does not include any exposure therapy and is used to establish a safeness within the individual. One of the last methods that I found was using Cognitive Behavioral