Month: May 2009

A recently published article in the journal, Addiction, reports on 12-step affiliation and recovery outcomes for adolescents. As little is known about adolescents and 12-step affiliation, the study sought to observe the recovery outcomes of 357 13-18 year olds who attended substance abuse treatment in Northern California and San Francisco. The study measured the teens’ success based on drug and alcohol use, 12-step meeting attendance, and other forms of social or religious support. The study concluded that at one year past treatment, 12-step meeting attendance was marginally significant, and that at three years, the relationship between continued sobriety and 12-step affiliation was strong. The study concluded that 12-step affiliation was important in maintaining long term sobriety.

In treatment I was introduced to 12-step programs such as AA and NA. We used the 12-steps to address issues inside of treatment and I also began to work the steps with my sponsor. I soon learned that there was a difference between treatment and recovery, and that the responsibility of my sobriety fell on my shoulders when I left treatment. In treatment, I learned that I have a choice in what I choose to do with my sobriety. I have chosen to remain actively vigilant in preserving and developing the recovery that I have worked so hard on. 12-step meeting attendance has greatly enhanced my life, as I have found a group of like-minded individuals who support me and who are trying to become better people themselves. I am accountable to my support group and an example to those newer than me. It is a great feeling, to be a part of something that saved my life, and to have a chance to help someone else. I never thought about helping other people when I was using, and being an active member of the 12-step community has led me to think of others and to consider how my actions affect other people. Treatment helped me deal with the acute problem that was my active addiction, and provided me with tools so that I was able to leave treatment and practice maintenance myself.

12 Step Program for adolescents

The University of California at Irvine recently began a study implementing text messaging in order to gather information on pre-teen alcohol abuse. The study hopes that by using a form of technology this generation is well adapted to, researchers will be able to more easily connect with their subjects. The goal is to not only get a better number of the amount of Orange County youth including Newport Beach that are drinking, but to identify what factors may be triggering risky behaviors or stopping them from acting out. To better understand these elements, they will be gathering information about their daily lives, support systems, and emotions.

One of the main reasons researchers cite for focusing the study on preteens is that more and more evidence indicates that consuming substances prior to age 15 can lead to unfortunate outcomes such as substance dependency, poor school performance, the contraction of STD’s, and criminal behavior. Another reason is that preteen substance abuse is on the rise: more that 50% of youth in the US have consumed an entire alcoholic drink before their 15th birthday, and that most 8th graders say that alcohol is relatively easy to get. Finally, new research shows that young teens may be especially sensitive to drugs and alcohol at this age and that delaying consumption of drugs and alcohol greatly reduces the risks of dependence. Rather than focus on drug use prevention programs, which are generally ineffective, the study hopes to see how teens make decisions when confronted with alcohol and drugs. Parents shouldn’t wait until prom night to have a talk with their teen about drugs and alcohol. They should start in junior high, or earlier. As the number of prescription drug abusers, marijuana users, and alcohol users climbs for adolescents, parents should maintain communication with their child. The teenage years can be scary for everybody (parents and teens alike) and even scarier for teens and parents of teens dealing with addiction. You don’t have to face it alone. For teens or families of teens struggling with addiction and alcoholism, there is help.

Help For Teens Struggleing With Addiction and Alcoholism

When I was using, I resigned myself to the idea that I was just crazy. My behavior certainly made it appear that way. My self-harming behaviors and bouts of extreme depression landed me in more than one psych ward before I went to residential treatment in Malibu. I remember sitting in the hospital one time, surrounded by doctors asking me, “What happened to you? Why are you like this?” I thought I was destined to be crazy. I never considered that drugs might be contributing to my growing mental instability and depression. I never considered that because I was constantly using and not being honest with doctors that I was making it impossible for them to give me a clear diagnosis and treatment. One day a Hospitals and Institutions (H&I;) panel from Narcotics Anonymous came to the hospital. The H&I; panel members were volunteers from NA who had brought a meeting in to us, since we couldn’t leave. Even though they were much older than me, I identified with the feelings they talked about, and the unreasonable compulsion to use drugs and alcohol. They had had that same kind of “crazy” that no one could put their finger on. They were addicts, and I was an addict. I was a teenage drug addict? I felt like I should have had my own Lifetime movie or after school special in order to be classified a teenage drug addict. It was a heavy moment for me when I realized that drugs and alcohol might be the culprits behind my steady decline, and that I had to use drugs, even when I didn’t want to. I took it in as something to consider.

Following the hospital stays, I began my attempts at sobriety, finally ending up in residential treatment. As I stayed clean and began to work the 12 steps with my sponsor and work more closely with the counseling staff at the rehab, I began to see myself kind of “level out.” In early recovery, my reactions to discomfort were rather volatile, but as I developed new behaviors to replace my old, destructive behaviors, I began to feel my insanity lift. Who’da thunk it, that taking away the drugs and alcohol and lunatic drama that was my life in Santa Monica would make me feel less crazy? The structure in treatment and the life that followed in outpatient and sober living was key in maintaining and developing my mental stability. My newly developed tools were best practiced in safe environments for awhile. After developing such a strong foundation, I have been able to take my skills into the world with me. In treatment I learned how to ask for help and worry about saving myself before saving face. I learned how to think before I speak and react. I learned anger management tools and practical application of the 12 steps. I learned how to show up even when I don’t feel like it. When I walked out of the doors of Visions, I walked a out a completely different person than the fearful, depressed person that walked in.

Adolescent Self Harm, Depression and addiction

This is what rock bottom looks like!

Us Magazine attributed Lindsay Lohan’s recent weight loss to her abuse of the prescription drug Adderall, a stimulant usually prescribed to combat ADHD. Abuse of the drug is rampant among youth and college students, who often use the medication to lose weight or to stay up in order to study for exams. Adderall and other stimulants such as Concerta and Ritalin, are chemically very similar to methamphetamine, and when abused, pose similar health risks. Because the drug allows people to focus for longer periods of time, it deceives the user into believing that they will do better in school, but as with most drugs, the cons outweigh any pros. Long term abuse can lower the levels of dopamine in the brain, creating a need for larger amounts of the stimulant in order to achieve a “high.” Withdrawal can cause the user to feel dysphoria and depression. Abuse can lead to hallucinations, psychotic episodes, extreme paranoia, irregular heartbeat and even death. Giving the pills away or buying and selling them without a prescription is a felony. If anyone in the household is prescribed a stimulant, pills should be kept in a secure area and counted regularly.

Adderall abuse in teenagers and college students is common, as most students know someone with a prescription and can easily get the pills.

How to tell if your teen is addicted to or abusing Adderall? If your teen is prescribed Adderall, you should count their pills regularly and dispense the pills yourself. Regular contact with your child’s doctor is important. One of the most noticeable physical signs of stimulant abuse is dilated pupils. Whenever I abused Adderall, my pupils got gigantic. There was no hiding it. Kids on Adderall may be noticeably excited, overly talkative, or irritable. Stimulants often cause the user to feel very thirsty, and create a loss of appetite and eventual weight loss. Users often refer to “tweaking out” on something, which is when the user hyperfocuses on a task, such as obsessive cleaning, drawing, studying, or playing video games. Finally, Adderall and other stimulants cause sleep loss. Abusing stimulants can keep the user awake all night or, on a binge, multiple nights. Users coming down from the drug may “crash,” sleeping heavily all day following the binge. Withdrawal from the drug often makes the user feel extremely irritable, hostile, or depressed. Prescription stimulant addiction is very serious as addicts will often move on to abusing methamphetamine (meth, tweak, speed, or shit are some common street names) because it is a much stronger version of Adderall. Prescription Adderall abuse is taken very seriously and should be addressed by professionals. Adolescent drug treatment is a very helpful option in dealing with teen prescription drug addiction.

Is your teen Addicted To or Abusing Adderall? Click here.

Eminem recently opened up to Vice Magazine, admitting that he used to be heavily addicted to prescription painkillers and sleeping pills. He reported that at times he was taking 10-20 Vicodin a day and so many Valium and Ambien that he couldn’t count them. Again we are reminded of the growing problem of prescription drug addiction. After a nasty relapse following a knee injury, Eminem got clean and stayed clean. In the article, he shares about his initial struggle to write raps sober. He says, “I almost feel like a little kid again with rap. I wanna play around with different flows. If I don’t feel like it’s what I’m fully capable of, if there’s one weak line, I wanna change it. Rap was my drug. It used to get me high and then it stopped getting me high. Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that… Now rap’s getting me high again.”

Most of the people I know in recovery are highly creative in one form or another. Many addicts in early recovery struggle with the fear that they will not be able to do the creative things that they used to do when they were using. Art therapy is an extremely useful tool in exploring emotions and recovery. I associated painting and drawing with using, and I thought that I wouldn’t be creative anymore without drugs, which is a lie. I felt like art was a best friend that I could never go back to again, and it broke my heart. Recently, I heard a speaker share that as an artist, in order to overcome her challenges with creativity, she had to remember that she was a creative and clean person before she started using, and that she was a creative and clean person now. Art therapy at Visions helped me readjust my perspective regarding art. I began to see it as a useful tool in my recovery. Painting and drawing are now forms of meditation for me, and a way to work out challenging issues. I don’t know what role art will play in my future, but I know that I don’t want to be without my creative outlets.

Addicted to prescription drugs

‘Tis the season to admit to having a prescription drug problem it seems. Paula Abdul joins Eminem this week in admitting to her past addiction to prescription painkillers. She reports that she finally took the plunge and went through the pain and discomfort of withdrawal last Thanksgiving because she couldn’t go on the way she was living. She recognizes now that the pills could have killed her. The singer and American Idol judge cites longstanding health problems, multiple surgeries, and strong drive to keep working and performing contributed to her increased dependency on pain pills.

Celebrities opening up about their own struggles with substance abuse generally helps to shine the spotlight on the addiction struggles of everyone else.

Prescription drug abuse, especially amongst teenagers, is a growing problem. The Office of National Drug Control Policy reported in 2007 that the number of adolescent prescription drug abusers has caught up to adolescent marijuana abusers, and that prescription drugs are the most commonly abused drug among 12-13 year olds. The most frequently abused prescription drugs are the powerful painkillers OxyContin and Vicodin. The report states that adolescents are more likely than young adults to become addicted to prescription drugs, as they are often viewed as harmless by teens. Teens easily get these drugs from friends and relatives. BYOP (bring your own pills) parties are where teens bring whatever pills they have, be it their own prescriptions or their parents’, and mix the pills into a pile, called “trail mix.” Whatever you get is whatever you get. In order to keep highs exciting, teens blindly take medications so that they will be surprised by their high. If prescriptions must be kept in the home, parents should keep them in a locked location. Pills that have the potential for abuse should be counted frequently. Parents should talk to their children about the true dangers of prescription drug abuse. If you suspect that your teenager is struggling with prescription drug abuse, don’t hesitate to contact us. Help is available.

teen-prescription-drug-abuse

I never knew I could learn something from a horse, but in adolescent rehab, our frequent visits to the horses at equine therapy became my favorite part of the week. By working with the gigantic horses, I learned vital tools for my sobriety, such as patience, boundaries, and confidence. Strangely simple tasks produced mind-blowing outcomes. Somehow, the horses acted as a mirror, showing me my own insecurities and strengths. The horses seemed to sense what I needed, and I learned to see parts of myself within them. They too had been rescued, and it really felt like we were helping each other. The incredible Malibu view and the strong connection we developed with the animals really made me feel good for one of the first times in a long time.

I still think about the tools I learned at equine therapy. Learning how to cooperate in a group setting with such large animals really helped with my interpersonal communication skills- something I was severely lacking when I came to treatment. Instead of using my words, I turned uncomfortable feelings inward, which festered and came out as my addiction, my eating disorder, or self injury. Working with the horses helped me to feel more confident; the simple connection with such a huge animal was a stepping stone to developing human relationships. When I feel anxious, I imagine the strange calm that settled over me whenever I was with the horses. I imagine their silky coats and the way they smell. I pretend I am with the horses and whatever is bothering me usually lightens its grip on my mind. I am so glad to have had the great opportunity to learn from these animals.

Equine Assisted Therapy for Adolescents in Malibu

Before going to residential drug rehab, I lived in Santa Monica, I had made several half-hearted attempts at getting clean. I tried going to AA and NA meetings and working with a therapist. I’d even been enrolled in a juvenile outpatient program. After each potentially successful attempt, I would inevitably return to using, to everyone’s dismay and frustration. I felt that I was destined to be an addict and alcoholic. Every time I went back to school, the drugs were still there, and I didn’t have enough of a foundation in recovery to face it without using. As a last-ditch effort, my parents sent me to an adolescent rehab, where I was removed from my entire life at home in order to focus fully on my recovery. As my time in the treatment center went on, I began to doubt my ability to stay clean after leaving the safety of inpatient treatment. My counselors and I began to focus on relapse prevention. I had put in so much hard work in treatment that I couldn’t bear to see my sobriety slip away.

I continued to build my support group. With the treatment center’s encouragement, I got a sponsor that I check in with daily. Frequent meeting attendance led me to start seeing familiar faces in the rooms. I identified some of my triggers- the things that make me want to use, and began to do work to take some of the power out of them. I began to recognize my own power of choice. Nothing could make me use; I made the decision whether or not I used. As one counselor put it, “You can choose to go there in your head, or you can choose not to.” Even today, when my head starts spinning over a particular issue, I remind myself that I choose whether or not I run with the thought or not. I can make a deliberate shift in what I’m thinking about. For example, if I am spinning over an issue, I’ll stop and think about what it’s like to ride a horse, or what my favorite birthday present was. It works for me. I also imagine that I am playing air hockey- just knocking the disturbing thoughts right out of my brain. I have begun the long process of replacing the old negative information in my brain with new useful information. As I have stayed clean, I have held onto the basic tools I learned in residential treatment. I am so glad that I was given the chance to learn some good tools that help me to make the right choices today.

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