Purpose:  Severe mental illness and substance abuse are serious problems alone, and when they are combined they can be even more devastating.  Treatment for dual diagnosis is best when the treatment of each disorder is integrated into one program. The objective of the study was to determine if the current integrated dual diagnosis program had an impact on outcomes.

Method:  The paper will report findings from an evaluation of a dual diagnosis program treating mental health and substance abuse.  The research design is pre-experimental one group pretest posttest design (Campbell & Stanley, 1963). Fifty-three people were studies to determine the program effectiveness. The measures used in the research were the BASIS-32, MAI, BHS, BDI, and CAR.

Results: The results of the t-tests used in the study indicate that the BASIS-32 showed significantly improved results for subjects from pretest to posttest.  All other inventories proved positive changes that were not significant, except the BHS. Subjects in the study had a mean age of 30.  There were 18 females and 34 males. The average length of stay for the consumers was 4 months of treatment.  All clients were prescribed medications at discharge with the exception of one client.

Implications:  Treating dually diagnosed clients in an integrated treatment center is imperative to decrease duplication of services, mixed messages, and exacerbation of problems.  In this study, the current dual diagnosis program was seen to have some efficacy in treatment.  Despite the limitations, the study demonstrates that people improve while in dual diagnosis treatment, even with the addition of one substance abuse group.