Being a teen with Bipolar Disorder can sometimes feel like you will never be normal. On the roller coaster of sadness and mania, it is hard to get anything else accomplished. Sometimes drugs seem like the best solution, but they usually end up exacerbating the problem. Drugs and alcohol already cause mood swings in teenagers, and these can often be an indicator of drug and alcohol abuse. For some teens, the roller coaster doesn’t stop when drugs and alcohol are taken away, and for those, teen dual diagnosis treatment centers can be the most constructive solution. Dual diagnosis rehabs treat both teen drug and alcohol abuse and teen bipolar disorder. Sober teens can obtain a clear diagnosis and receive the best treatment while learning to deal with a dual diagnosis in a safe, nurturing environment.
As a formerly challenging and challenged teen, it seems important for me to note the passing of J.D. Salinger this week. Best known for his novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger chronicles the angst-ridden teen Holden Caulfield’s adventures in New York following his expulsion from private school. Caulfield basically wanders around in a semi-drunken stupor for a few days, visiting his sister and an old English teacher, and ruminating about all of the “phonies” and his dissociation with society and his family. Sounds like someone needs to go to rehab. Getting kicked out of school? Check. Engaging in dangerous behaviors (ie: getting beat up by a prostitute’s pimp)? Check. Wandering around alone in a big city drunk for three days? Check. Drinking alone for three days? Check. Feeling alienated, disconnected, depressed, and hopeless? Check. I’m just saying. It’s nice to find identification in literature. I know that without certain characters, my teen years would have felt a lot more empty and hopeless. I often envied the authors for their ability to put those strange hollow feelings into words. I wished I could describe that hole inside me, and J.D. Salinger had a way of honoring and explaining that feeling without making it cheesy or insignificant. I think that is part of the reason The Catcher in the Rye has resonated with so many readers for so long.
Heidi Montag of the Hills recently exposed her obsession with plastic surgery and looking as perfect as possible to People Magazine. Montag received ten different procedures in ten hours, including an eyebrow lift, botox, liposuction on her stomach, neck and thighs, another breast augmentation, nose job revision, ears pinned back, chin reduction, and a buttock augmentation. She is 23 and barely recognizable. She claims that in order to feel best about herself, and to feel beautiful as a woman, this is what she needs to do.
I could go on and on about the pressures (especially in Los Angeles) on women to feel bad about their bodies. Montag may very well be an example of this. In teen drug and eating disorder rehab, I was confronted with my own body image issues. By taking the drugs away, which I had used for years to mask my insecurities, I was forced to deal with my issues head-on. I understand Montag’s desire to feel perfect and desirable, but fortunately I have obtained some level of sanity in that department. It is easy to think that, “If only I had bigger breasts, a smaller stomach, or a smaller chin, I would feel better all of the time,” but rehab gave me a dose of reality. There is nothing on the outside that can change my insides. Recover love myself no matter what my outsides look like.
NPR reports that teens today suffer from more anxiety than they did during the Great Depression. Researchers cite inflated pressures, such as the need to have the right material objects and have the right appearances as the top contributors to teen anxiety. The pressure to have everything, be everything, and handle everything is certainly a huge stress in teen living. Developing a strong sense of self can be difficult when ads pull you in every direction, college admission becomes insanely competitive, and body obsession consumes our culture. It’s no surprise that teens turn to drugs, alcohol, and prescription pills to take the edge off. It’s also no surprise that teens develop body dismorphia and eating disorders. By addressing every aspect of a teen’s life, a dual diagnosis treatment center helps an adolescent drug and alcohol user find ways to cope in today’s busy world by addressing the underlying issues, and to develop the tools to keep them on the path to success.
Yesterday I took a trip with the rest of the Visions kids to a homeless shelter called the Midnight Mission. While I was there I had a life-changing experience. After I left I felt like I made a difference in the world. I was serving beans, and there were easily over 400 people. There were kids, adults, and families. While I was serving, the people were very kind and loving. They were thankful. I started to run out of beans and I realized that the first 100-150 people got beans, zucchini, and a hard sandwich. After I had served all the beans, over 250 more people didn’t get any beans. I sat and I observed the less fortunate, remembering that I was hungry and had a nice dinner waiting for me in the car. Not only did I have a nice dinner but we were going to take a trip to Starbucks afterward. So, as I remembered what I had, I started to cry. I had this feeling that I have never had before, and I cannot explain what it was. I stood looking at the people and saw that there was no more food for them, and I started to really feel the pain; I cried. Then I went and took a timeout. One of the kitchen staff at the Midnight Mission asked me if one of the homeless said something mean to me. I couldn’t help but feel even more upset and sad because the people were so nice and far from mean. I could not express the love and pain I felt for these people. I watched as they fought over more food. I heard their voices yell for more food and all I could feel was sorrow. I have never felt a want to help others, but today I wanted to give everything I had to them. I watched as we drove down Skid Row and saw them on the cold sidewalk, sleeping on rock, their stomachs growling. I had a warm hot coffee sitting in my hands, warm in clothes, wearing shoes, and being around the ones I loved. I hated how I took for granted the people at Visions, but when I got to see how these people have no one, I didn’t want to go home. All I wanted to do was stay close with all the people that I had met at Visions. Coming to the Midnight Mission was the best thing I could have ever asked for. I got a culture shock and the best feeling I could ever ask for. I guess you could say that the feeling I felt looking at them at first was helplessness, because after I ran out of beans I could do nothing more and I wish I could have. But that feeling changed as I realized that these are strong people. These people are struggling for their lives and are making it through. One of the residents here told me that he didn’t feel bad for these people, that they did it to themselves or get treatment for their mental health issues. They didn’t have a chance. Their addiction got so out of hand that they ended up like that. I can tell you that if the kids here didn’t have the chance to come to treatment and learn about the disease of addiction and co-occurring disorders, they would be in the same f@#king position. So, for someone to say that to me was heart breaking. I could not believe and even explain what was really happening to these people. This was also a good time for me to learn that not everyone believes what I believe. I believe that these homeless people didn’t have a chance to have a better life. But that resident doesn’t, so I cannot sit and waste the time I did have with the homeless telling him how he was wrong. That was a big for me to just let that go. I knew in my heart that I helped and I gave them a smile. I helped someone out for once. I truly helped someone out without any reward, and I wish I could go all over the world and make a difference in someone’s life. There was this one man that particularly touched me. He was in line, and I said to him, “Hi sir how was your Christmas?” His reply back to me was, “It was as good as it could ever be.” A homeless person who had no nice Christmas dinner, no presents, no home, no and family to spend it with could be grateful. I think that I got more than what was necessary on my Christmas, but I didn’t feel that on Christmas. I realized this about a week later. It was amazing to me that someone less fortunate can be humble and not complain. It bothers me that my conceited attitude is what I have always turned to, and because I always act like I am the shit, that’s how I am looked at as a person. But I am not that person. I am a loving and kind person. I just have a hard time showing it. And yes, it may take a couple more times of Midnight Mission and more volunteer work for me to really understand that I have it good. I have everything I could ever want. Not only that, but I should be grateful that I have a chance to be helped with my addiction as a teen. If the homeless, who suffer every day can get clean all on their own, I have great hope for myself and other kids at Visions. It takes a lot of courage and strength to get through treatment, even with loving and open people and all the luxuries. It’s amazing that these people got clean with nothing but themselves and meetings. That must have been so hard. So hard that I can only look up to them. I have everything I could ever need. I have a great family. I cannot explain the gratitude I felt yesterday. I can only continue to help and love these people as human beings and not something different. They are not different. They are struggling and so is everyone. I thank God and Visions so much! I could not have had nor needed anything better than what I had that day. I will never ever forget my day at the Midnight Mission.
The BBC in London reports that teens who have a bedtime later than midnight are 24% more likely to experience teen depression than those who have an earlier bedtime. Adolescents who reported they usually sleep five or fewer hours per night were 71% more likely to report depression, and 48% more likely to have thoughts of committing suicide, compared to young people reporting close to eight hours of sleep nightly, the study shows. Being well rested is an important aspect of a teen’s health and well-being as is adequate exercise. Lack of sleep is thought to contribute to emotional responses that can disturb judgment, concentration, and impulse control. Today’s teens face demanding schedules full of homework and extra-curricular activities, and getting enough sleep can seem impossible at times. The study suggests that parents can be an effective element in helping teens develop good time management skills and learn how to take care of themselves.
Started using drugs Got expelled from school Scared my friends and family Crashed a car Got stitches Took multiple trips to the ER Lost privileges Lied a lot Destroyed relationships Became a teen runaway Got sent to teen drug rehab Got clean Stayed clean Made new friends Repaired relationships Got to help others Finished high school Applied to college Celebrated multiple years clean Got to travel Got my driver’s license Got a job Learned to love myself Have made steady self improvements Have learned to be honest Have learned to take care of myself Developed self respect
