The perspective of the addiction treatment program in most states has undergone a severe change in the last few years. California is one of the foremost states to accept this change. Earlier, any form of addiction was believed to be a habit of compulsion. But today, it is being largely looked upon as a mental disease. If you think about this deeply, you will understand that the addiction treatment program of California and other states now considered addiction as something the person cannot voluntarily give up. Mere theories such as abstinence are definitely not going to work in today’s times.

That is the reason why most centers for drug and alcohol rehab in California now include a psychiatric treatment program in their overall schedule. Once the initial detoxification program is completed, the patient is led into a psychiatric care program which is a part of the aftercare treatment. In some centers, there really are psychiatrists who will look after this part of the treatment. They will analyze and find out if there are any kinds of mental problems with the patient that are making the treatment difficult and if there are, how to treat them.

In fact, the dual diagnosis form of addiction treatment in California is completely based on this psychiatric approach of treatment. This method is actually formulated for people who have mental disorders to get treatment for their addictions. However, in the wake of the theory that all forms of addiction are mental problems in themselves, the scope of the dual diagnosis method has widened drastically in today’s times.