Our Philosophy: Primary and Secondary Disorders

ISISrecovery evaluates our clients for primary and secondary disorders to gain a deeper understanding of each client as an individual. Primary disorders can be mental health and/or addiction and include bipolar, depression, panic, cocaine, crystal meth, heroin and alcohol abuse. Secondary disorders, or the deficiencies of life skills, include anger, lack of coping skills, poor inter-personal relationships and lack of personal accountability.

Primary and secondary disorders create a complex, inter-related web. Clients self-medicate their psychiatric disorders, leading to chemical dependency. The chemically dependent develop psychiatric disorders through abuse, toxicity, and length of use. Secondary disorders are common because clients’ prolonged mental health and/or chemical dependency problems have impaired their development, leading to life skill deficiencies. On the flip side, life skills deficiencies can lead to substance abuse to alleviate to the anger, anxiety, and so forth and it can lead to low-self esteem resulting in depression.

The bottom line is that the whole person must be addressed. Clients often leave residential treatment programs and hospitals with great outcomes. They stop their destructive behaviors. They make plans. They are less angry and irritable and much more agreeable. But when they return home, they succumb to their usual challenges and triggers despite their most sincere efforts. This is often because they lack the life skills or the ability to apply those life skills in their real, home environments.

		Examples
Primary Disorders	Mental Health	Bipolar, depression, anxiety, panic, OCD, ADHD, schizophrenia, eating disorder, borderline personality disorder
	Addiction	Alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, meth, prescription pain killers, Ativan, Xanax, Valium
Secondary Disorders	Psychological	Anger, co-dependency, impulsivity, poor-regulation of emotion, poor decision-making
	Interpersonal	Relationship problems, poor boundaries, enabling patterns within families, lack of friends
	Self-Management	Poor hygiene, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, lack of recreation, poor sleep/wake schedule
	Executive Function	Inability to take medication as directed organize, schedule a day, prioritize, budget finances, be responsible and accountable
	Life Skills	Lack of coping mechanisms, inability to find a job, inability to clean, cook, balance a check book