According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (2014), schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness that interferes with a person's ability to think clearly, manage their emotions, and make decisions. The cause of schizophrenia can be attributed to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Psychosis often accompanies schizophrenia and is defined as the loss of contact with reality. Schizophrenia often begins to manifest itself in people in late adolescence and early adulthood. This period of human development is crucial when it comes to the propensity for drug addiction. Smith and Hucker (1994) found that a person with schizophrenia was 47% more likely to have a substance use disorder than a non-schizophrenic population. In addition to a greater propensity for drug and alcohol abuse, people with schizophrenia are likely to use nicotine at a much higher rate than the general population (Sagud, 2009). According to the National Institute of Mental Health (2014), approximately 2.4 million American adults over the age of 18 have schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a non-discriminatory illness and affects men and women equally, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Currently, the best treatment for people with schizophrenia is a combination of antipsychotic medications in combination with psychotherapy, behavior modification, and social rehabilitation. Green, Drake, Brunette, and Noordsy (2007) found that “dual diagnosis patients are highly prone to adverse outcomes in several areas: increased symptom severity; increased rates of hospitalization, infectious diseases, violence, victimization, homelessness and medication non-adherence. Co-occurring substance use disorders... middle of article ... patients with this condition were abstinent, 68% reported no significant psychiatric symptoms, and 29% were employed” (p. 861). Dual diagnosis treatment is a relatively new innovation that has only gained momentum since the 1990s. The treatment prognosis for this population with schizophrenia and substance use disorders is improving. Although evidence shows that there are benefits associated with some sort of dual diagnosis training, a considerable amount of research still needs to be conducted to determine the effectiveness of comorbid treatment for schizophrenia patients. To better treat dual diagnosis patients, it is important to utilize interdisciplinary collaboration between mental health and addiction experts to create an integrated treatment approach that meets the needs of this unique population..