How Alcohol and Marijuana Abuse Impacts Adolescence
September 20, 2009 by Addiction and Substance Abuse Tips
Filed under About Addiction
Adolescence is a crucial stage for physical and mental human development. An adolescent brain has increased desire of knowledge and exploration. At the same time it is highly vulnerable to high-risk behaviors, mental illness, and addiction. Adolescent drug and alcohol abuse, results in side affects that can impact them for entire life.
Adolescence and Alcohol Abuse
Easy access to alcohol is one of the most potential reasons that drive an adolescent towards alcohol abuse. As adolescents are not fully grown physically and mentally, alcohol abuse will have a long lasting and severe effect on them.
Alcohol is a depressant that slows the function of the central nervous system, which is crucial in maintaining perceptions, movements, emotions, vision and hearing of a person. Starting alcohol abuse at an younger age and continuing it through out the rest of the life will have a critical impact on the abuser that could be fatal.
Adolescence and Marijuana Abuse
Marijuana is one of the most widely abused illegal drugs in the United States. Comparatively, marijuana is more fatal to alcohol abuse for an youngster. According to University of Cincinnati, marijuana abuse significantly declines the brain activities to cognitive tasks in adolescents.
A recent study done by scientists at North Shore University has found that marijuana abuse aggravates genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia among youngsters.
Schizophrenia usually appears in late adolescence in males who abuse marijuana. On the contrary, females tend to develop schizophrenia later in their mid-20s and beyond. Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with symptoms of emotional instability, detachment from reality, and withdrawal into the self.
The Reasons for the Abuse
There are many reasons why some children and young teens start abusing alcohol and marijuana or any other drug. Most young people abuse some form of drug because they see their family members or friends or known people abuse and seems to enjoy it. The other important cause is youngsters hear songs about drugs and see them abused on TV and in movies and misunderstand that drug abuse is common and nothing wrong in it. Some teens misapprehend that marijuana and other drugs help them to escape from problems at home, school, or with friends.
Alcohol and marijuana abuse impose serious and long-term affects on adolescents. Parents and educational institutions have a bigger role to play and help youngsters to understand the impact of drug abuse, stop it and prevent it.
Thanks to Drug Alcohol Test for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:
Adolescence and Alcohol Abuse
Easy access to alcohol is one of the most potential reasons that drive an adolescent towards alcohol abuse. As adolescents are not fully grown physically and mentally, alcohol abuse will have a long lasting and severe effect on them.
Alcohol is a depressant that slows the function of the central nervous system, which is crucial in maintaining perceptions, movements, emotions, vision and hearing of a person. Starting alcohol abuse at an younger age and continuing it through out the rest of the life will have a critical impact on the abuser that could be fatal.
Adolescence and Marijuana Abuse
Marijuana is one of the most widely abused illegal drugs in the United States. Comparatively, marijuana is more fatal to alcohol abuse for an youngster. According to University of Cincinnati, marijuana abuse significantly declines the brain activities to cognitive tasks in adolescents.
A recent study done by scientists at North Shore University has found that marijuana abuse aggravates genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia among youngsters.
Schizophrenia usually appears in late adolescence in males who abuse marijuana. On the contrary, females tend to develop schizophrenia later in their mid-20s and beyond. Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with symptoms of emotional instability, detachment from reality, and withdrawal into the self.
The Reasons for the Abuse
There are many reasons why some children and young teens start abusing alcohol and marijuana or any other drug. Most young people abuse some form of drug because they see their family members or friends or known people abuse and seems to enjoy it. The other important cause is youngsters hear songs about drugs and see them abused on TV and in movies and misunderstand that drug abuse is common and nothing wrong in it. Some teens misapprehend that marijuana and other drugs help them to escape from problems at home, school, or with friends.
Alcohol and marijuana abuse impose serious and long-term affects on adolescents. Parents and educational institutions have a bigger role to play and help youngsters to understand the impact of drug abuse, stop it and prevent it.
Thanks to Drug Alcohol Test for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:
DrugAlcoholTest.com is an online store offering drug test and drug screening products in several formats including blood, urine and oral drug testing kits. These drug-testing kits can be used discreetly for at home drug test or for random employee drug test. Some of the popular products are saliva drug test, breathalyzer and thc drug test products.
Help for Parents With Addicted Children
July 30, 2009 by Addiction and Substance Abuse Tips
Filed under About Addiction
Help for Parents with Addicted Children
Are you enabling your Child to continue in the Addiction Process?
Addiction to drugs and alcohol among our children covers the entire social and economic spectrum in our society. Many ascribe addiction to poor parenting, however while poor parenting can contribute to the addiction problem, good parenting does not prevent it. Some families have one addicted child while their other children, living in the same environment, do not become addicts. So whether you are certain your son or daughter is not addicted, suspect they may be addicted or know that they are addicted, you may want to read more of this article. You will find help on recognizing addiction, learning what you may be doing to enable it and what you can do to help your son or daughter and to help yourself deal with it.
Recognizing Addiction in Your Son or Daughter
Parents are often the last to recognize addiction in their children. Studies have shown that about 4% of parents of 9 to 11 year olds believe their child may have used drugs while about 25% of these children admit to doing so. There are several reasons for this. The children get very good at hiding alcohol and drug use from their parents while parents do not want to believe it to be possible. In addition, there is a judgmental attitude that drug and alcohol use is the result of poor parenting so parents deny the problem even in the face of strong evidence to the contrary. Here are some questions to help you determine if your son or daughter has the disease of addiction.
1. Do you have relatives on either or both sides of your family who are addicted? Genetics plays a large role and sometimes the disease skips a generation or two.
2. Have you found evidence of drug use in your home such as marijuana joints, empty liquor containers (either theirs or yours) or drug paraphernalia? Children will go to great lengths to hide alcohol and drug use from parents, so if they are leaving evidence this is an indication they have lost control of their use.
3. Have you seen a major change in behavior such as grooming habits, loss of interest in family activities, studying habits, withdrawing, depression, new friends, belligerence, extreme defensiveness, etc.?
4. Has your son or daughter gotten a MIP or DUI, been charged with shoplifting or theft?
5. Do they tell you that they are not affected by drinking alcohol or can drink more than their peers? This usually is perceived as good thing by an addict but actually indicates they have developed a high tolerance because of excessive use.
6. Have you seen burns on their fingers or lips, needle marks, or sores on their nose and face?
7. Has your son or daughter lost weight or developed a poor appetite?
8. Do they have money problems and refuse to explain how it is being spent?
Hopefully these questions will help you decide whether there is a problem or not. If you believe there is, you must begin by understanding what is and is not enabling behavior and how to avoid it.
Are You Enabling Your Child in the Addiction Process?
If you are like most parents, your initial response to addiction in a child is “We are going to fix this problem?” The common initial thoughts of parents faced with an addicted child will include, I’m going to punish my child, or I’ll lecture him about the problems with doing drugs or alcohol, or I’ll ground him until he is 30!! However, these attitudes probably will do little to alleviate the problem. Instead they probably increase the desire in your child to abuse substances. This approach, among many others that keep the addiction process going, is called “Enabling Behavior”. After attending Al Anon meetings for a while, it becomes easier to make the distinction between what is enabling behavior and what is helping behavior. You will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle you. The following story illustrates the point.
As fathers, when our kids…even our adult kids, get into life threatening situations, sometimes it is just not possible to say “detach with love” and walk away…at least it wasn’t for me.
My alcoholic ex-wife actually schooled our oldest son with her addiction to wine. She created her own “drinking buddy,” and, because he was 17 and in the midst of those rebellious “dad’s an idiot” times, she won real favor with him by encouraging this “adult behavior.”
By the time he was 18, his mother and I had separated, so, with me out of the house, this boy really “took over the house.”
One night after work I received a panicky call from our youngest son. His older brother had beaten him up and threatened to kill him in a drunken rage. The boy was sobbing.
I had to do something. But before I did, I called my sponsor, who also had a son about my son’s age, and had successfully gotten him into treatment. My sponsor added a compassionate but detached good sound mind to my panic. Together we worked out a plan where I called the DA’s office first, found out that the older son could be charged with a misdemeanor and arrested. Then, when I confronted the boy I had a strong arrow in my quiver.
I used what we call in the program the “broken record” technique. I just repeated over and over the same message to him in the face of his bluster. It went something like this:
“I understand, but I want you to know that I have this option, and if there is any harm done, or even another threat of harm, I will have you arrested.”
Guess what? After I drove over and picked up his brother and got him to safety I called the older brother back. He was looking through the newspaper trying to find a job so that he could leave the house. But we never had another threat of violence against his younger brother. So how did this all end?
Well, my oldest son went through his various adventures, hit a bottom, came into AA, and started his recovery. He married a talented woman who became a nurse, went back to school, received his GED, then went on to a state-operated college and graduated Summa Cum Laude. He has made me a Grandfather twice over, and at this moment serving as a phenomenal teacher.
After my divorce from his mother, his younger brother moved in with my new Al-Anon wife and me. After a difficult period with counseling for four years, and some tragedy, he graduated from a state-operated college, and then found Al-Anon. That led to a great sponsor, professional counseling, his finding his own church and his deciding that he wanted to enter the ministry. He graduated went back to school, graduated from divinity school, and now, after a long stint as an associate pastor, has his own church.
A huge thank you to Al-Anon, Darrell my Al Anon sponsor, my new life with this incredible wife, my fantastic sons, and God.
What you can do to help yourself and to help your son or daughter
Prior to making any hasty decisions after learning your child is addicted, it would be beneficial to remember that we are ill equipped to deal with numerous issues that are involved in addiction. You need to get your child help either through a 12 step support group, professional addiction counselor or both. Along with your child’s recovery, you need to seek assistance in dealing with the pain, uncertainty, fear and insanity that are normal for parents of addicted children. The first healthy thought you should engage is that you did not cause the addiction, you can’t cure the addiction and you can’t control the addiction.
Some specific things you can do:
1. Focus on creating a healthy emotional atmosphere in your home. Resist the urge to yell by focusing on saying what you mean, mean what you say but don’t say it mean.
2. Focus on you and not your child. Your and his recovery will be better. Only seek to control yourself rather than your child.
3. It is important for both parents to work together by setting boundaries that define what will and will not be allowed in your home along with the consequences of behavior that is not allowed.
4. Be patient and don’t resent the method of recovery. Recovery of the addict may or may not materialize and chances are that if recovery does occur it will not be a result of what you did rather it will be the result of another addict doing 12 step work in carrying the message of experience, strength and hope to fellow addicts.
5. Keep a sense of humor and gratitude. These help when dealing with crisis.
6. Remember that your child has a higher power. Fortunately, you are not it because you are powerless over the disease of addiction. This frees you up to focus on you and your recovery.
7. Maintain hope that things can get better. This hope will keep you sane and help you with your responsibilities.
8. Do attend a 12 step recovery program for co-dependents and do get a sponsor. You will find out that you are not alone and that there is help.
Okay, so this is not the way you thought the family history would unfold when your child was born. Resentment, shame and anger are probably consuming your thoughts when you see your child. By following the steps outlined above, however, and making a commitment to the recovery process for yourself, you will find serenity, joy and freedom whether your child’s addiction continues or not. Often, the child also gets into recovery after they see the changes in your behavior. Addiction resulting in recovery may be the impetus to get your life restarted and refocused on the things that truly matter such as service to others, compassion, acceptance and honesty.
Thanks to Ken P, Scot B., Bob T. for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:
Are you enabling your Child to continue in the Addiction Process?
Addiction to drugs and alcohol among our children covers the entire social and economic spectrum in our society. Many ascribe addiction to poor parenting, however while poor parenting can contribute to the addiction problem, good parenting does not prevent it. Some families have one addicted child while their other children, living in the same environment, do not become addicts. So whether you are certain your son or daughter is not addicted, suspect they may be addicted or know that they are addicted, you may want to read more of this article. You will find help on recognizing addiction, learning what you may be doing to enable it and what you can do to help your son or daughter and to help yourself deal with it.
Recognizing Addiction in Your Son or Daughter
Parents are often the last to recognize addiction in their children. Studies have shown that about 4% of parents of 9 to 11 year olds believe their child may have used drugs while about 25% of these children admit to doing so. There are several reasons for this. The children get very good at hiding alcohol and drug use from their parents while parents do not want to believe it to be possible. In addition, there is a judgmental attitude that drug and alcohol use is the result of poor parenting so parents deny the problem even in the face of strong evidence to the contrary. Here are some questions to help you determine if your son or daughter has the disease of addiction.
1. Do you have relatives on either or both sides of your family who are addicted? Genetics plays a large role and sometimes the disease skips a generation or two.
2. Have you found evidence of drug use in your home such as marijuana joints, empty liquor containers (either theirs or yours) or drug paraphernalia? Children will go to great lengths to hide alcohol and drug use from parents, so if they are leaving evidence this is an indication they have lost control of their use.
3. Have you seen a major change in behavior such as grooming habits, loss of interest in family activities, studying habits, withdrawing, depression, new friends, belligerence, extreme defensiveness, etc.?
4. Has your son or daughter gotten a MIP or DUI, been charged with shoplifting or theft?
5. Do they tell you that they are not affected by drinking alcohol or can drink more than their peers? This usually is perceived as good thing by an addict but actually indicates they have developed a high tolerance because of excessive use.
6. Have you seen burns on their fingers or lips, needle marks, or sores on their nose and face?
7. Has your son or daughter lost weight or developed a poor appetite?
8. Do they have money problems and refuse to explain how it is being spent?
Hopefully these questions will help you decide whether there is a problem or not. If you believe there is, you must begin by understanding what is and is not enabling behavior and how to avoid it.
Are You Enabling Your Child in the Addiction Process?
If you are like most parents, your initial response to addiction in a child is “We are going to fix this problem?” The common initial thoughts of parents faced with an addicted child will include, I’m going to punish my child, or I’ll lecture him about the problems with doing drugs or alcohol, or I’ll ground him until he is 30!! However, these attitudes probably will do little to alleviate the problem. Instead they probably increase the desire in your child to abuse substances. This approach, among many others that keep the addiction process going, is called “Enabling Behavior”. After attending Al Anon meetings for a while, it becomes easier to make the distinction between what is enabling behavior and what is helping behavior. You will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle you. The following story illustrates the point.
As fathers, when our kids…even our adult kids, get into life threatening situations, sometimes it is just not possible to say “detach with love” and walk away…at least it wasn’t for me.
My alcoholic ex-wife actually schooled our oldest son with her addiction to wine. She created her own “drinking buddy,” and, because he was 17 and in the midst of those rebellious “dad’s an idiot” times, she won real favor with him by encouraging this “adult behavior.”
By the time he was 18, his mother and I had separated, so, with me out of the house, this boy really “took over the house.”
One night after work I received a panicky call from our youngest son. His older brother had beaten him up and threatened to kill him in a drunken rage. The boy was sobbing.
I had to do something. But before I did, I called my sponsor, who also had a son about my son’s age, and had successfully gotten him into treatment. My sponsor added a compassionate but detached good sound mind to my panic. Together we worked out a plan where I called the DA’s office first, found out that the older son could be charged with a misdemeanor and arrested. Then, when I confronted the boy I had a strong arrow in my quiver.
I used what we call in the program the “broken record” technique. I just repeated over and over the same message to him in the face of his bluster. It went something like this:
“I understand, but I want you to know that I have this option, and if there is any harm done, or even another threat of harm, I will have you arrested.”
Guess what? After I drove over and picked up his brother and got him to safety I called the older brother back. He was looking through the newspaper trying to find a job so that he could leave the house. But we never had another threat of violence against his younger brother. So how did this all end?
Well, my oldest son went through his various adventures, hit a bottom, came into AA, and started his recovery. He married a talented woman who became a nurse, went back to school, received his GED, then went on to a state-operated college and graduated Summa Cum Laude. He has made me a Grandfather twice over, and at this moment serving as a phenomenal teacher.
After my divorce from his mother, his younger brother moved in with my new Al-Anon wife and me. After a difficult period with counseling for four years, and some tragedy, he graduated from a state-operated college, and then found Al-Anon. That led to a great sponsor, professional counseling, his finding his own church and his deciding that he wanted to enter the ministry. He graduated went back to school, graduated from divinity school, and now, after a long stint as an associate pastor, has his own church.
A huge thank you to Al-Anon, Darrell my Al Anon sponsor, my new life with this incredible wife, my fantastic sons, and God.
What you can do to help yourself and to help your son or daughter
Prior to making any hasty decisions after learning your child is addicted, it would be beneficial to remember that we are ill equipped to deal with numerous issues that are involved in addiction. You need to get your child help either through a 12 step support group, professional addiction counselor or both. Along with your child’s recovery, you need to seek assistance in dealing with the pain, uncertainty, fear and insanity that are normal for parents of addicted children. The first healthy thought you should engage is that you did not cause the addiction, you can’t cure the addiction and you can’t control the addiction.
Some specific things you can do:
1. Focus on creating a healthy emotional atmosphere in your home. Resist the urge to yell by focusing on saying what you mean, mean what you say but don’t say it mean.
2. Focus on you and not your child. Your and his recovery will be better. Only seek to control yourself rather than your child.
3. It is important for both parents to work together by setting boundaries that define what will and will not be allowed in your home along with the consequences of behavior that is not allowed.
4. Be patient and don’t resent the method of recovery. Recovery of the addict may or may not materialize and chances are that if recovery does occur it will not be a result of what you did rather it will be the result of another addict doing 12 step work in carrying the message of experience, strength and hope to fellow addicts.
5. Keep a sense of humor and gratitude. These help when dealing with crisis.
6. Remember that your child has a higher power. Fortunately, you are not it because you are powerless over the disease of addiction. This frees you up to focus on you and your recovery.
7. Maintain hope that things can get better. This hope will keep you sane and help you with your responsibilities.
8. Do attend a 12 step recovery program for co-dependents and do get a sponsor. You will find out that you are not alone and that there is help.
Okay, so this is not the way you thought the family history would unfold when your child was born. Resentment, shame and anger are probably consuming your thoughts when you see your child. By following the steps outlined above, however, and making a commitment to the recovery process for yourself, you will find serenity, joy and freedom whether your child’s addiction continues or not. Often, the child also gets into recovery after they see the changes in your behavior. Addiction resulting in recovery may be the impetus to get your life restarted and refocused on the things that truly matter such as service to others, compassion, acceptance and honesty.
Thanks to Ken P, Scot B., Bob T. for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:
Author’s Information Sheets
In keeping with one of the Al Anon tenants which states that “anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions,” the three authors will not publicly disclose their names. However, they do wish to share how they have been impacted by the disease of addiction and how they have seen miracles recovery within themselves and others.
All three of the authors have lived with addicted family members including an alcoholic ex-wife, an alcoholic mother and growing up in an emotionally abusive home. There was the death of a daughter from cocaine overdose. They battled this disease through control, raging, caretaking and rescuing but the problems only became more severe. Finally they gave up and surrendered to God through the Al Anon program.
Combined, the authors have been attending Al Anon meetings two to three times a week for over 40 years. They have sponsored over 40 other Al Anon members, have read nearly all the Al Anon literature that is available, led and spoke at numerous meetings and served on committees. As a result they have seen themselves and others change from complete despair, depression, financial ruin, and unbearable grief to lives filled with serenity, joy and freedom.
Readers are encouraged to visit the web site “menlivingwithaddictedpeople.com” or “miabook.com”. There you will find information on addiction and recovery and also a blog space which provides a sampling of what a typical Al Anon meeting is like.
How to Select Right Drug Rehab Program
July 14, 2009 by Addiction and Substance Abuse Tips
Filed under Addiction Detox & Rehab
Selecting a Drug Rehab Program is one of the essential and critical decisions to make. However, only a very few number of people are acquainted with a quality Drug Rehab Program. Each program has its own credentials, staff qualifications, options, cost and efficiency. Drug and Alcohol addictions progress through a predictable stage.
You desperately need a trained professional, who is an expert in addiction medicine and who can diagnose accurately with prescribe medicines that are appropriate for such a treatment irrespective of whether he or she is an in/out patient or has come for counseling.
The Drug Rehab programs offer various treatment programs as per the individuals needs. They can include outpatient, inpatient, short stay or residential options. The only difference between a residential and inpatient treatment is that, inpatient treatment is provided by licensed hospital and residential Drug Rehab Programs generally meet the usual medical care of rigorous standards. The length of a Drug Rehab Program depends on the severity of the addictions.
Nowadays Drug Rehab Programs are not very expensive. The cost depends on the chosen type of the program. You should know what is inclusive and if there is any free service program and service for a health insurance. But the expense of a Drug Rehab Program can exceed if it is not treated on time. Therefore, it is more important that you treat the person before it is too late.
A benefit to on the site medical care in a Drug Rehab Program is that, they have doctors and nurses, who offer 24 hours services, constantly monitor and ensure that you have a safe treatment to get rid of this drug addiction. Moreover, the specialized staff can monitor the progress of the addicted person and make the necessary adjustments to the treatment program.
Alcohol, Heroine and methadone or even prescription drugs may cause uncomfortable reactions and symptoms, when an individual suddenly stops taking them. Some Drug Rehab Programs have a specifically designed treatment, so that the addicted person comes out of the drug addiction without having to go through any agony that is generally experienced during drug withdrawal. This withdrawal procedure restores the capability of an individual and also included nutritional supplements of calcium and vitamins along with magnesium that help to eliminate this addiction from your life very easily. You can also find Drug Rehab Programs that are undertaken as a part of non-profit for the betterment of the society and offer services at free of cost.
A Drug Rehab Program, if taken from a center that has Medical accreditation and credentials is very significant. This addiction can adversely affect the whole family and not just alcoholic. The members of the family often do not realize that how badly the person is affected by dependency of chemical. Therefore, involvement of the family is an added component to the Drug Rehab Program’s success.
There is no quick treatment for drug abuse. The recovery is a continuous process and the skills that an individual learns during the Drug Rehab Program should be implemented in his or her day-to-day life, but of course, it will take time.
Some of the available Drug Rehab Programs offer you a Follow-Up program. The program offers not only quality but also continuous care program that helps and monitors the recovery of an addicted individual.
Thanks to Roberta Groche for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:
You desperately need a trained professional, who is an expert in addiction medicine and who can diagnose accurately with prescribe medicines that are appropriate for such a treatment irrespective of whether he or she is an in/out patient or has come for counseling.
The Drug Rehab programs offer various treatment programs as per the individuals needs. They can include outpatient, inpatient, short stay or residential options. The only difference between a residential and inpatient treatment is that, inpatient treatment is provided by licensed hospital and residential Drug Rehab Programs generally meet the usual medical care of rigorous standards. The length of a Drug Rehab Program depends on the severity of the addictions.
Nowadays Drug Rehab Programs are not very expensive. The cost depends on the chosen type of the program. You should know what is inclusive and if there is any free service program and service for a health insurance. But the expense of a Drug Rehab Program can exceed if it is not treated on time. Therefore, it is more important that you treat the person before it is too late.
A benefit to on the site medical care in a Drug Rehab Program is that, they have doctors and nurses, who offer 24 hours services, constantly monitor and ensure that you have a safe treatment to get rid of this drug addiction. Moreover, the specialized staff can monitor the progress of the addicted person and make the necessary adjustments to the treatment program.
Alcohol, Heroine and methadone or even prescription drugs may cause uncomfortable reactions and symptoms, when an individual suddenly stops taking them. Some Drug Rehab Programs have a specifically designed treatment, so that the addicted person comes out of the drug addiction without having to go through any agony that is generally experienced during drug withdrawal. This withdrawal procedure restores the capability of an individual and also included nutritional supplements of calcium and vitamins along with magnesium that help to eliminate this addiction from your life very easily. You can also find Drug Rehab Programs that are undertaken as a part of non-profit for the betterment of the society and offer services at free of cost.
A Drug Rehab Program, if taken from a center that has Medical accreditation and credentials is very significant. This addiction can adversely affect the whole family and not just alcoholic. The members of the family often do not realize that how badly the person is affected by dependency of chemical. Therefore, involvement of the family is an added component to the Drug Rehab Program’s success.
There is no quick treatment for drug abuse. The recovery is a continuous process and the skills that an individual learns during the Drug Rehab Program should be implemented in his or her day-to-day life, but of course, it will take time.
Some of the available Drug Rehab Programs offer you a Follow-Up program. The program offers not only quality but also continuous care program that helps and monitors the recovery of an addicted individual.
Thanks to Roberta Groche for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:
If you are looking for the right drug rehab program then feel free to visit drugrehabsunsetmalibu.com. Drugrehabsunsetmalibu.com is California’s premiere drug rehab and addiction treatment and alcohol rehabilitation center.
How to Pick a Great Drug Rehab…compare Aftercare Therapies, They Tell you a Lot About the Quality of a Rehab
June 28, 2009 by Addiction and Substance Abuse Tips
Filed under Addiction Detox & Rehab
Once you have decided to get help for a drinking or drug abuse problem and decided that the you really need inpatient care at a drug or alcohol rehab, you still need to choose a quality drug rehab, and you still have a very tough decision to make when evaluating between the hundreds of drug rehabs likely available in your area alone.
Most drug and alcohol rehabs are run by committed professionals and do offer a wide and comprehensive program designed to offer the most benefit to the recovery process. Unfortunately, some exist for little reason other than to collect your admissions check, and will offer very little therapy of value.
How can you pick a good drug rehab?
Thankfully, there are a few ways to determine if a rehab under consideration does offer quality programming, and one criterion you can use for evaluation is the level of aftercare programming as offered by the facility.
Drug or alcohol treatment at a residential rehab facility should never end with the culmination of a residential stay, and drug rehab treatment should occur over two separate and distinct but equally important phases. The first stage occurs while you are a resident of the facility, and is the more intensive phase; the second or “aftercare” phase of treatment occurs only after you have left the facility, yet return regularly for continuing aftercare therapy and education ( Why you need aftercare).
The importance of aftercare
This aftercare makes an incredible difference, and one of the best indicators of long term success and sobriety is a committed and enthusiastic maintenance of aftercare therapy. Aftercare may include continuing group peer support sessions, will likely involve some form of continuing 12 steps style meetings, and should also include occasional sessions with a therapist or psychologist.
Aftercare therapy assists recovering addicts reentering the community to maintain the lessons and teachings of rehab even in the face of a different daily reality. Aftercare helps those people struggling with sobriety to consolidate relapse prevention plans even when faced with mounting temptation and availability; and when aftercare includes individual sessions with a therapist, a relapse prevention plan can be modified on the recommendations of a professional to meet the demands of temptation as they occur in the initial months of abstinence.
Aftercare is very important, has a big influence over success rates and should be a priority; but of course it also costs a drug rehab money to run aftercare programs. Drug and alcohol rehabs that exist only to collect your admissions check will have little interest in maintaining a long term commitment to your sobriety, while quality facilities do endeavor to treat each patient successfully. One way to differentiate between the two is in the level of aftercare programming available and offered.
Find out what exactly you are entitled to
While all drug and alcohol rehabs will pay lip service to the concept, find out what specific aftercare therapies you will be entitled to, and for how long. If all that is offered are occasional 12 steps meetings, this indicates a low commitment to recovery. If the rehab maintains a more intensive therapeutic involvement with patients after release, the contrary is true, and this likely indicates a more quality facility.
Drug and alcohol rehabs are expensive and demand a significant time and energy commitment, and you don’t want to waste your time at one that offers you a limited chance at sobriety. One way to differentiate between rehabs is the level and intensity of aftercare as offered. Aftercare is not the only thing, but it is important, and how different drug and alcohol rehabs handle aftercare can tell you a lot about the quality of the program in general.
Thanks to Christin Shire for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:
Most drug and alcohol rehabs are run by committed professionals and do offer a wide and comprehensive program designed to offer the most benefit to the recovery process. Unfortunately, some exist for little reason other than to collect your admissions check, and will offer very little therapy of value.
How can you pick a good drug rehab?
Thankfully, there are a few ways to determine if a rehab under consideration does offer quality programming, and one criterion you can use for evaluation is the level of aftercare programming as offered by the facility.
Drug or alcohol treatment at a residential rehab facility should never end with the culmination of a residential stay, and drug rehab treatment should occur over two separate and distinct but equally important phases. The first stage occurs while you are a resident of the facility, and is the more intensive phase; the second or “aftercare” phase of treatment occurs only after you have left the facility, yet return regularly for continuing aftercare therapy and education ( Why you need aftercare).
The importance of aftercare
This aftercare makes an incredible difference, and one of the best indicators of long term success and sobriety is a committed and enthusiastic maintenance of aftercare therapy. Aftercare may include continuing group peer support sessions, will likely involve some form of continuing 12 steps style meetings, and should also include occasional sessions with a therapist or psychologist.
Aftercare therapy assists recovering addicts reentering the community to maintain the lessons and teachings of rehab even in the face of a different daily reality. Aftercare helps those people struggling with sobriety to consolidate relapse prevention plans even when faced with mounting temptation and availability; and when aftercare includes individual sessions with a therapist, a relapse prevention plan can be modified on the recommendations of a professional to meet the demands of temptation as they occur in the initial months of abstinence.
Aftercare is very important, has a big influence over success rates and should be a priority; but of course it also costs a drug rehab money to run aftercare programs. Drug and alcohol rehabs that exist only to collect your admissions check will have little interest in maintaining a long term commitment to your sobriety, while quality facilities do endeavor to treat each patient successfully. One way to differentiate between the two is in the level of aftercare programming available and offered.
Find out what exactly you are entitled to
While all drug and alcohol rehabs will pay lip service to the concept, find out what specific aftercare therapies you will be entitled to, and for how long. If all that is offered are occasional 12 steps meetings, this indicates a low commitment to recovery. If the rehab maintains a more intensive therapeutic involvement with patients after release, the contrary is true, and this likely indicates a more quality facility.
Drug and alcohol rehabs are expensive and demand a significant time and energy commitment, and you don’t want to waste your time at one that offers you a limited chance at sobriety. One way to differentiate between rehabs is the level and intensity of aftercare as offered. Aftercare is not the only thing, but it is important, and how different drug and alcohol rehabs handle aftercare can tell you a lot about the quality of the program in general.
Thanks to Christin Shire for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:
Christian Shire is an addictions professional writing about all matters pertaining to treatment and recovery. If you need help making a decision about treatment visit Choosehelp to read more.
Read the daily addiction blog Troubleblog for stories of recovery and the latest news on treatment options.
