Addiction can be difficult to treat especially if the user has been living the habit for a certain period of time. Addictions can be a cause of temporary or permanent physical, emotional, mental, and psychological damage for an individual. Choosing a rehabilitation program can be the right step towards sobriety and getting the routine of a normal life back.
A Summary of Teenage Addiction
A 75 percent majority of American teenagers are recorded to have an experience with illicit substances including alcohol and prescription medicines. An estimate of 6 million teenagers are currently using addictive substances with 65 percent using more than one substance. Addiction has a higher risk of happening when a person starts at an early age. About 90 percent of adults who have been involved in substance abuse started before age 18--making it difficult to kick the habit years after it happened.
Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is a term referring to addictions that have consumed, destroyed and mismanaged people’s lives. In this case, the individual misuses, abuses or is addicted to substances that s/he has been using for a period of time. Within this time span develops a chemical and psychological dependence on the substance that disrupts productivity of daily tasks and the ability to maintain social relationships.
SUD has several behavioral symptoms that could be mildly to severely alarming. These include:
- Missing out important daily activities to pursue addiction habits
- Becoming obsessed with the thought of using substances
- Continued substance use despite causing conflict with family, friends, and co-workers
- Continued substance use despite overwhelming feelings of anxiety, depression, and pressure
- Using more of the regular dosage for a longer period of time
- Consumes most of the productive time in work, family, and extracurricular activities
- Difficulty quitting despite several major attempts
- Difficulty quitting or cutting dosage on more than one occasion but failed
- Continued substance use despite prevention from family and friends
In teenagers, these symptoms can translate to more practical situations such as:
- Changes in friends and changes in behavior as well
- Changes in grooming that lean on being untidy or carelessness
- Skipping classes; even those they are interested in
- School problems or problems with the law
- Lack of or no quality time for family and social relationships/extracurricular work
- Significant changes in sleeping or eating habits
The rehabilitation process begins with the acknowledgement and desire to have an addiction treated. The simplest ways that alleviate drug addiction is to stop the use of substances and continue with a healthy diet and state of mind to keep your body away from the thought and need for it. For teenagers, this is far from easy because repeated drug use changes the brain and its functions. Teenage addiction can be prevented if signs and symptoms are detected early.
Rehabilitation for Teenage Addiction
Studies show that the use of substances can affect the abilities of critical judgment, learning, memory, and decision making. For teenagers, timing is crucial and determines the quality of life they get afterwards. Addiction programs provide the necessary therapies needed for teenagers to detach themselves from drugs.
Teen rehabilitation centers are exclusive to the teenage mind, body and spirit. Substance disorder is not only treated but also the peripheral causes that contribute to the symptoms that are manifested. Treatment rehabilitation centers and facilities accommodate patients of different backgrounds with a customized plan for recovery.
Principles of treatment are applied to each program to guarantee the welfare of the patient. These principles range depending on the complexity of the addiction and treatment depends on the needs and diagnosis of the individual. Treatments do not guarantee immediate effect but its multi-day process keeps up with the teenager’s needs and history.
Detoxification
The process of flushing or removal of substances that can cause potential or long-term harm on the body. This involves a prescription of herbs, vitamins, and minerals that help remove the drugs completely. Given this technicality, it is a great risk for this to be done at home, especially for drugs with more severe withdrawal issues such as seizures and hallucinations. Trained professionals are oriented with lifestyle recovery and a medical professional should be consulted before any form of treatment takes place.
Detox centers create a distance between the patients and substances. They offer several detox services upon assessment of the patient and have round-the-clock medical supervision. Extensive care is given to the recovery process in which detox is only a part of. These establishments come with resources that help patients survive until the end of their therapeutic journey.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
(also known as psychotherapy or talk therapy) A treatment that uncovers the psychological reasoning behind the teen’s reasons for addiction and focuses on reforming thinking patterns to improve mental capacity. The process is trying to reset how the teenager perceives through their thoughts and interpretation.
Contingency Management
A kind of CBT that tracks the patient’s progress by earning gifts and rewards through good behavior. This has a dual purpose because the task sets to reform a repetitive pattern to alter the mesolimbic dopamine pathway (the reward system of the brain) that was damaged by the substance use. The effect of the therapy is making teenagers learn once again the value of satisfaction and getting rewarded.
Motivational Enhancement Therapy
An outpatient therapy program that encourages teenagers to go through the rehabilitation process. It is recommended that this be conducted along with other therapeutic programs so that teenagers can be cured in the different areas affected by the addiction.
Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach
A CBT that uses intervention to identify negative environmental factors that contribute to the addiction and discusses healthy alternatives that put a teenage user’s life back on track. The method focuses on the importance of teen support systems and how patients can expand them.
Family Therapy
A kind of therapy engagement that involves the family, peers, guardians, or persons of authority. Family therapy sessions address the aspect of addiction that is related to familial ties, communication, and understanding. The family is known to have a long-last and formidable influence on a teenager’s overall emotional, psychological, and mental health. Trouble at home can encourage young people to do drugs as a distraction.
Family-behavioral therapy
A dialogue between teenagers and parents where both parties practice the consequences of being rewarded and knowing how vital it is to have a connected household. The main aim is to establish positive communication signals, meaningful relationships and create a drug-free home.
Brief Strategic Family Therapy
A duration of 12 to 16 sessions that discuss drug abuse in the family and if users exist within the family, how this can be healed. Therapy is provided to inpatients and outpatients and can even serve as evaluation after treatment has been completed.
Multidimensional Family Therapy
This therapy is done when immediate blood-related family ties do not apply and instead relatives, peers, members from the community contribute to the healing and treatment of substance abusive teens. Expanding help from schools and even the local juvenile system, the community is made aware of the negative effects of addiction and how they can help afflicted teens improve on their lives.