Assessing and Treating Co-occurring Disorders in Adolescents
The selected article titled Assessing and Treating Co-occurring Disorders in Adolescents was done by Lichtenstein, Spirito, and Zimmermann in 2010. This article unearths or explores the co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder more specifically among adolescents. Of great importance to note is that the main points that the article tries to bring it out clearly are; One is that the article majors mainly on the idea that limited or no effort have been channeled or directed towards the fight against the co-occurring disorders. Moreover, the article gives an outlook on the existing or rather the present common practices of the caregivers with respect to these co-occurring disorder’s assessment. This was done by carrying out an interview among the caregivers of both the mental and substance use settings. In conclusion, the last main point of the article was to identify the relationship between co-occurring disorder and the external environment.
The most interesting information that apparently raised eyebrows was the fact that there is a lack of enough effort offered to counter the co-occurring disorder menace. With the lack of enough support, it is needless to point out that little or no progress can be noticed even as the relevant authorities aim at fighting this ordeal. This information contradicts what I had read on the government’s effort and, more importantly, the ministry of health’s continuous support towards the fight against co-occurring disorders. This information, therefore, creates substantial gaps on whether the government has truly offered the necessary support or not.
In view of the results given by this article, I would make sure that more support, both financial and psychological, is offered towards the fight against co-occurring diseases. The article, for example, highlights that 93% of the caregivers reported having treated adolescents with co-occurring diseases (Lichtenstein, Spirito, and Zimmermann2010). This being a higher number, I will make sure that more effort is channeled towards the adolescents in a bid to bring to an end the cases of co-occurring disorders.