What came first, the alcohol problem or the mental health problem?
For many people, it’s an impossible question to answer. Alcohol use is often just one factor in the complex challenges someone faces in their life. Drinking may be a means to cope with mental distress. It can also contribute to experiences of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and low mood.

What is ‘dual diagnosis’?
‘Dual diagnosis’ is the term that’s often been used to describe the situation when someone is experiencing severe mental health problems and problematic alcohol use. In reality, it’s not always a very helpful term, since the difficulties someone faces don’t have to have been diagnosed by a doctor for them to be having an impact on someone’s life. It’s increasingly common to refer instead to ‘co-occurrence’, which simply means that more than one thing is happening at the same time.....