Despite an increased awareness of co-occurring disorders, there remains a fair amount of confusion about how to treat a mental health issue and a substance abuse issue at the same time without causing more harm. To further complicate the issue, when patients first walk in you often don’t know whether they are dealing with two conditions concurrently. Charles Atkins’ book, Co-Occurring Disorders: Integrated Assessment and Treatment of Substance Use and Mental Disorders, addresses these problems. We turned to him for some practical guidance.