Dual-diagnosis patients at particular disadvantage

Cloth embroidered by a schizophrenic

Carol Forsloff --- Medical science has already told us of the cardiovascular risks of people with schizophrenia, but research tells us these risk factors, like hypertension,  negatively affect thinking processes in general and especially people with schizophrenia.

Researchers from the departments of psychiatry and preventative medicine investigated how vascular risk factors affect thinking skills.  They compared 100 schizophrenics with comparison subjects on test performances.  And what they found is that hypertension has a significant negative effect on memory, as does a body mass index above 25.

Mental health patients who have physical health problems, and are thus have dual-diagnoses, are at a particular disadvantage, as many group homes and centers are ill equipped to deal with them.

Most care facilities will either focus on the physically challenged or those with mental illness.  It is difficult to find those who are able to deal with patients who have complex factors in both mind and body.

It is made doubly difficult if the patient is elderly.  Care facilities must sort out those stories from the patients that are just stories and those that are accurate and for which attention must be given.

And those who have limited incomes and who must rely on Medicaid are even further challenged.  Families often have to support people in these situations.  It is made more of a problem in that Medicaid patients are often family members of the poor.

So those with hypertension and who have memory difficulties, as physical problems, create additional stresses for the schizophrenic patients, those whose mental illness is particularly difficult as it is.

Those with dual diagnosis are therefore at particular disadvantage in the health care system.