Substance Abuse | Parenting Teens Blog

October 3, 2010

Teen Substance Abuse – Alcohol

Teen alcohol abuse is nothing new, but that doesn’t make it any less of a problem. In fact with all the anti drinking campaigns and all the education teens today get about drug abuse and alcohol addiction it is clearly obvious that we are taking a not so effective approach.

Alcohol, Ethyl alcohol or simply ethanol is the ingredient found in most types of alcohol beverages like wine, beer and liquor. Simple production of alcohol caused it to be very popular as it can be fermented from sugar and starches. Alcohol acts like a depressant for our central nervous system in a very short time, as it quickly gets from our stomach into our bloodstream.

Alcohol can be very damaging substance that can damage every single organ in our body and can even damage a growing fetus in a pregnant woman. Higher levels of alcohol can cause brain function impairment and impairment of our motor skills; long term use can lead to permanent brain damage and liver failure, stroke and certain forms of cancer.

Alcohol addiction or alcoholism is characterized by a strong need, a strong craving for alcohol. Teens with alcohol addiction will continue to drink even though they are aware that it damages their body and continues to cause significant damage to their brain cells. Long term alcohol use leads not only to physical illness, but also to problems with work ability and relationships.

Here are some statistics related to teen alcohol abuse that will help you better understand this problem:

-    One out of four high school seniors drinks alcohol on a daily basis
-    The greatest risk of alcohol abuse for a lifetime have people that started drinking in their early teens
-    Teens who drink alcohol are 50 times more likely to try and use cocaine than teenagers that never tries alcohol
-    There are currently around 10 million teen drinkers in the US alone
-    While only 10 % of teens that started drinking at the age of 17 or later developed an alcohol addiction that number rises to horrifying 40% for people who started drinking at the age of 13
-    Over half of drunken driving accidents are caused by teen drivers
-    One out of three teens claims he got alcohol from his own home
-    Most teens claim that they usually drink at home and get their alcohol from their parents

Noting the last fact about teen alcohol abuse we can see that most teens get alcohol from their homes. Parents need to be on a lookout about alcohol missing from their home and they need to take appropriate measures to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Teen alcohol abuse is as serious problem as it ever was and we need to change a few things if we want to make a difference compared to the previous generations over the course of the last 20 years. That is how long we haven’t made any serious progress regarding teen alcohol abuse.

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April 10, 2010

Rehab, Getting Rid of Teen Substance Abuse

Filed under: addiction,drinking,substance abuse,Teen Drug Abuse — Tags: drug abuse, drug rehab, longer rehab, parenting teens, parenting teens blog, parenting teens topics, rehab clinic, short rehab, substance abuse, teen issues, teen substance abuse, teens parenting — admin @ 10:41 am

More and more teenagers are becoming addicted to something, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs even technology like cell phones and internet, they simply cannot live without those things. But the most critical form of abuse is substance abuse. Substance abuse like drugs and alcohol may cause unimaginable consequences for a teenager, so once parents see the symptoms they should act immediately. This is the perfect place to inform yourself about the symptoms of drug abuse, but in this article we will cover the next step, alcohol and drug rehab.

Rehab
Teen drug abuse has reached a new high, alcohol is standing in its place, it has even lowered a bit. But drugs are on the rise for the last 7 years according to statistics, so checking up on your child might be a good idea, but you need to do that in a loving way that allows communication, there is no need to go Gestapo on your child. Once you figure out that your child is using drugs you need to consult a professional, they will most likely recommend a good drug rehab clinic for your child. But that is the part where you make a choice for your child, because getting your child to a wrong clinic is the same as not getting him to a clinic at all.
What you need to do is again educate yourself about possible treatments and measures that need to be taken in order to get your child back on track. I know that this can be a very painful process, but you need to understand one very important thing, the longer your teenager stays in a clinic for rehab the better. Almost 60% of drug users suffer a relapse after finishing rehab, most of that is due to a short rehab time. Rehab is not only used to clear the body and cure the physical addiction, which a short rehab therapy can do. No, you need a longer rehab for your child allowing him to get rid of substance abuse mentally, to allow his mind to become stronger and realize that he doesn’t need drugs anymore. Statistics have also shown that only 20% of teenagers attending a longer rehab have suffered relapse.
In the end there are many other things to keep in mind, when approaching a rehab clinic you need to be sure to check every aspect so you can feel at ease knowing that your child is in good hands. After all you are doing this for his or hers well being. This is a serious problem and requires a serious approach, but the most important thing about rehab is the love and unconditional support of the family and friends. With that in mind you can’t go wrong.

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October 6, 2009

The Teen’s Brain

Filed under: abuse,addiction,ADHD,adolescents,Anxiety Disorder,behavior problems,bipolar disorder,body dysmorphic disorder,bullying,Carolina Springs Academy,Cross Creek Programs,Darrington Academy,date rape,depression,drinking,drnking,Dyslexia,eating disorder,emo,Gang involvement,grief,help for parents,Horizon Academy,interventions,Ivy Ridge Academy,learning disability,Majestic Ranch Academy,Midwest Academy,obesity,Obsessive compulsive disorder,oppositional defiant disorder,oral hygiene,Parent Support Groups,parenting teens,Red River Academy,Royal Gorge Academy,self-harming,sex adiction,smoking,special education,Specialty Boarding Schools,Spring Creek Lodge,step-families,substance abuse,suicide,teen behaviors,Teen Depression,Teen Drug Abuse,Teen Health,Teen Help,Teen Inspiration,Teen Pregnancy,teen safety,teen sex,tic disorder,tourette's syndrome,Uncategorized,violence — Tags: adolescent, alcohol, brain development, drugs, guns, parenting, risk, sex, teen death, teenagers — admin @ 10:14 am

Today’s teenagers have been stereotyped as adventurous and harebrained individuals. They are generally fond of experimenting with things until they get in touch with drugs, sex, guns, alcohol among others. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures, 16,000 young adults die each year from unintentional injuries and accidents. The most common justification for teenagers’ care-free attitude is that their brains just aren’t developed enough to know better. However, recent research shows that in some cases the fact is just the opposite, the brain matures not too slowly but perhaps, too quickly.

According to a psychiatrist, an adolescent who engages in more dangerous activities have white-matter pathways that seem to be more mature than those of risk-averse youths. White-matter is the brain’s wiring, the neutral pathways that connect the various gray-matter regions of the cerebrum that are independent of one another. Having a mature white-matter is necessary because it allows faster brain processing speed. Nerve impulses also travel faster in mature white-matter. Experiments also reveal that the more mature the look of the brain, the more adventurous the teenager tended to be.
Another possible explanation is that some teenagers whose brains develop more rapidly than others become uncomfortable and a little confused owing to the gap between their biological capabilities and the social norms they must follow as kids. Precocious development of these neural tracts may make some adolescents more susceptible to engage in behaviors that society considers too adult in nature for their chronological age. It is also a common notion that teens make dumb decisions because their brains are immature. In other words, having a more mature brain may actually motivate some teens to try out new and potentially harmful experiences.
For now, these theories are mere speculation, and the researchers concede that the interaction of white and gray matter is so complex that hard conclusions remain elusive. The results of the study are relatively bare and by no means conclusive. The human brain is so intricate in nature, and one has to consider the fact that there are other factors that come into play such as the environment and certain genetic predispositions that are equally complex to study.

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June 26, 2008

Teens getting alcohol from parents

Filed under: drinking,help for parents,substance abuse — admin @ 3:44 pm

More than half of American teens say they’ve consumed alcohol, and more than 40 percent of those children say they sometimes get their alcohol free from an adult, a new federal survey found.

Among the country’s estimated 10.8 million underage drinkers, more than 40 percent said they got alcohol free from an adult during the past month. One in four said they got the alcohol from an unrelated adult, one in 16 got it from a parent or guardian, and one in 12 got the alcohol from a family member, according to the survey.

The survey, Underage Alcohol Use: Findings From the 2002-2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, was a nationwide review based on data from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, and included a random sample of 158,000 people 12 to 20 years old.

Read the full article here

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Childhood aggression can lead to alcohol abuse

Filed under: abuse,drinking,substance abuse,violence — admin @ 3:05 pm

Continual aggressive behavior from childhood through late adolescence is a significant predictor of adult alcohol use and abuse, a new University of Michigan study indicates.

In comparison to childhood and adolescent aggression, some variables often thought of as risk factors, such as problems in the family and parents’ poor educational background, are weak predictors of children drinking alcohol later in life as adults, said the study’s lead author Eric Dubow, an adjunct research scientist at U-M’s Institute for Social Research.

U-M researchers used data from the Columbia County Longitudinal Study, a 40-year project of the development of aggression and competence across generations. The study sampled third graders in Columbia County, NY in 1960, then age 8, until 2000 when they were age 48.

Data collected on the study’s participants included measures of aggression, popularity, and IQ tests at age 8; assessment of aggression, popularity, depression and educational attainment at age 19; and reports of alcohol use and problem drinking at ages 30 and 48.

By age 30, men reported a higher frequency and quantity of alcohol use—on average approximately 2 to 4 times a week, 3 to 4 drinks per sitting—compared with females, who consumed alcohol on average once per week, 3 drinks per sitting.

However, at ages 30 and 48, both males and females who had been high on aggression earlier in life reported significantly more alcohol use and problems with alcohol. Participants were not asked to specify if the beverage was liquor, beer, or wine.

The study also found that two sets of variables traditionally viewed as protective factors in the development of problem behavior actually increased the likelihood of alcohol use or alcohol problems.

Source article: www.emaxhealth.com

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