Tag Archives: Problems

Health News

Teenage Drug Abuse Help For Addiction Problems

As the parent, friend, or loved one of a teenager who has a drug abuse problem, it is important to get the right kind of help so they will be able to get on the road to recovery. There are multiple ways to go about helping someone overcome an addiction to drugs, including rehabilitation facilities which are located all over the country. Choosing the right facility is important, because it will make all the difference when it comes to what kind of help they get and the progress they make while they are there. Treating adolescents who have problems with drugs is a unique problem which requires powerful resources.

Rehabilitation facilities like ECHO in Malibu, California and Twelve Oaks in Florida are able to help youth who are struggling with drug-related problems. These are premier facilities that have the staff and resources to reach out to those who are in need of a helping hand. When trying to understand how to provide the best kind of support and treatment to someone who is in this situation, it is necessary to study the situation. If it is use that is not regular, they can benefit from an outpatient program and attending a local group. However, for a problem of addiction that goes beyond peer approval, often an inpatient setting is bet.

Drug treatment is all about getting down to the root cause of the problem instead of throwing out accusations and punishments. In order to help someone who is young overcome this kind of problem, it is necessary to talk with them and keep communication open with them all the time. When a teenager has someone to talk to about what they are going through on a regular basis, they will be less likely to act out and experiment with drugs. Along with drug abuse usually comes multiple emotional and social problems which need to be dealt with accordingly, which is why therapy is a good option in many cases.

The more you know about your adolescent child and what they are doing/feeling, the better of a position you will be in to help them. Young adults often feel ostracized from society and feel the need to turn to self-destructive patterns and behaviors which can lead to drug use which can easily morph into a serious addiction. Communication with your child is important. They may be hurting from a relationship that ended. We can think they are young and this shouldn’t be a concern at this point in their life. However, it can be be a great source of unhappiness and may lead to the need to numb oneself. Although the type of treatment should depend on the individual as well as the drugs they have taken, it is still very important to offer emotional support to make the transition of going into a treatment plan easier on them as a whole. Finding the right treatment program which will help guide them through this process of healing is critical.

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Health News

Understanding Drug Addiction And Mental Health Problems

Drug addiction, is not generally considered a mental health disorder, even though some consider it a shortcoming. The facts have shown that drug addiction has both physical and psychological dimensions. The body craves the effects that the drugs have on the brain. Some people with addictions develop later on severe depression or anxiety. On the other hand, some people that are bipolar or have a psychological issue utilize drugs to try to attain an equilibrium. The lines between the two are often blurry.

When a person exhibits symptoms of addiction, there’s probably some type of stress to begin with. However, this can vary in intensity. Although emotional problems differ from person to person, teenage addicts tend to exhibit signs of social anxiety or depression. They also can show signs of performance anxiety and other behavioral problems. Other social problems that can be seen along with addiction are schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. There are also issues of mental health problems with some people who are addicted to nicotine and alcohol. Some people have a very low tolerance for any discomfort and self-medicate using drugs.

Some medical studies are revealing that if certain areas of the brain are damaged, it can cause people to have a higher risk of developing addictions. That is not to say that these drugs and substances don’t have natural addictive properties, but it does explain why certain people are more likely to develop addiction than others.

A number of patients addicted to drugs state that external issues caused them to abuse illicit substances. Several of those mentioned reasons were very similar to triggers that cause mental illness. With the understanding that psychological conditions lead to substance abuse, there is little reason to doubt that people with genetic predisposition towards a mental illness can easily develop addictions.

In many treatment facilities and rehab centers, dual diagnosis is part of the program so that both the substance abuse and mental health issue are addressed properly.

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Using the Problems Checklist to Guide Your Living Skills Development in Addiction Recovery

One of the main things that I teach newly recovering alcoholics/addicts to do, is to identify the roles that chemicals play in their lives. This is especially important since the chemical has occupied so many crucial roles or functions and that removing it from a person’s life leaves big, gaping holes in their behavioral repetoire. When you identify the roles previously played by the chemical, you then identify possible healthy alternatives to replace the roles with. Early on, it is usually simple things like meetings, prayer, meditation, exercise, calling people for help, etc. Its pretty difficult to learn sophisticated living skills when you are hanging on by your fingernails. A little later in recovery, we are still working on replacing the roles with healthy alternatives, but we are focusing more on developinig more indepth living skills, and working to solve the most pressing of problems.

Often, by the time that someone finds his way to recovery, he has focused so much on getting the next drug, using it, and getting over it, that they don’t have a full grasp of the disarray that his life is truly in. The bills may be stacked up and unpaid. There may be impending court dates. Extended family members may not be speaking to him. He may be unemployed or underemployed. He may lack frustration tolerance, stress managment, feelings expression skills, and inability to communicate and problem solve with others. The following problems list can help the recovering person begin to repair the damage caused in his life by addiction. To use this checklist, identify which problems you have, rank them from most pressing to least pressing, taking into account the items as short term and long term goals.

The Problems Checklist

Check the problems on this list that you have currently. Identify whether you look at these items as short term or long term goals. Rank the ones you identified in terms of most pressing to least pressing, (i.e. #1, #2, #3).

Check Rank

____ ____ Housing, or appropriate place to live
____ ____ Medical or dental problems or need for checkups
____ ____ Regaining custody of children or finding Appropriate childcare
____ ____ Legal and court problems
____ ____ Relationship issues
____ ____ Social network problems (i.e. drug using friends/acquaintences)
____ ____ Feeling management skills
____ ____ Education issues such as going back to school, GED, additional training, etc.
____ ____ Psychololgical issues like anxiety, depression, mental confusion, mood swings, etc.
____ ____ Lack of structure and time management skills
____ ____ Lack of stress management skills
____ ____ Impatience, lack of frustration tolerance, demand for immediate gratification
____ ____ Lack of self-esteem, self-confidence, or positive identity
____ ____ Shame and guilt about hurting family or need to make amends
____ ____ Poor communication skills and/or poor conflict management skills
____ ____ Other obsessive compulsive behaviors
____ ____ Alienation, not feeling like you fit in, loneliness, isolation
____ ____ Lack of motivation or Procrastination
____ ____ Reliable Transportation
____ ____ Financial concerns or unpaid bills
____ ____ Job training or employment

There are more recovery tools on my website for your use. There are a number of articles and worksheets on individual and family dynamics of addiction and recovery, Recommended Readings, an “Ask Peggy” column, a Links page with additional resources, and a newsletter that will alert you to new educational/informational opportunity releases. To purchase my ebook, “Understanding Cross Addiction to Prevent Relapse” go to http://www.peggyferguson.com/ServicesProvided.en.html

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