Consumers’ Experiences in Dual Focus Mutual Aid for Co-occurring Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders

• Published in: Substance abuse : research and treatment Vol. 7
• Main Authors: Harlan Matusow, Honoria Guarino, Andrew Rosenblum, Howard Vogel, Thomas Uttaro, Sadiqua Khabir, Martin Rini, Thomas Moore, Stephen Magura
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 01-01-2013
• ISSN: 1178-2218
• DOI: 10.4137/SART.S11006

Mutual aid fellowships have been shown to improve outcomes for those with co-occurring substance use and mental illness disorders. Processes associated with usefulness include helper therapy (the assumption of a helping role to foster commitment) and reciprocal learning (the sharing of problems and solutions among members). The present qualitative investigation used focus groups comprised a subset of participants in Double Trouble in Recovery (DTR), a 12-step mutual aid group for those with co-occurring disorders, to gather their subjective perceptions of the groups. Participants emphasized that in linking them to others with similar problems, the DTR groups played a vital emotional role in their lives and provided a needed venue for information sharing that might have been otherwise unavailable.