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Recovery

Handling Your Teen Girl’s Eating Disorder

Handling Your Teen Girl’s Eating Disorder

Adolescence is a trying time for any teenager; not only have they got to grapple with the changes taking place in their bodies, they suddenly find what others think and say about them matters more than ever. This is especially true when it comes to a teen’s peers as they desire to fit in and be accepted. This uncertainty combined with the media’s portrayal of beauty can leave some teenagers, especially girls, with deep-seated feelings of insecurity, low self-esteem and body image issues.  

This can lead to a teenager engaging in bad nutrition and exercising habits in a bid to attain the body the body they desire or turning to food for comfort. This can quickly degenerate into an eating disorder, putting the health and normal growth of the teenager at risk.

Studies and research has shown that more and more people are suffering from eating disorders and they are getting younger. Women and girls are the ones predominantly affected with various eating disorders such as binge eating, bulimia, anorexia and orthorexia. As such, worrying whether one’s teenage daughter is suffering from an eating it is a legitimate concern for any parent and one that requires immediate attention.

Cases of young teens suffering from eating disorders has been steadily increasing. The most common eating disorders that teens suffer from include bulimia, binge eating (comfort feeding), anorexia and orthorexia. Those who suffer from bulimia normally binge eat then force themselves to purge the food either by vomiting or by using laxatives. Those suffering from anorexia barely eat and have rituals where food is concerned.

Orthorexia is an eating disorder where one is obsessed about eating right. Teenage girls suffering from orthorexia watch what they eat obsessively and rarely eat away from home, preferring to pack emergency food packs. Teens who eat for comfort or binge eat consume food past being sated.

It is therefore important for a parent who thinks or knows that their child is suffering from any eating disorder to handle the problem correctly. They should get as much information as possible about their child’s eating disorder from both the teen and other sources.

Once they have determined a problem might exist, a visit a professional with the expertise to deal with eating disorders, such as the highly qualified team in Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers, is advised for proper diagnosis and treatment. Call us or click below.

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Anxiety Mental Health Recovery

Does Your Teen Suffer From Anxiety?

Anxiety is a normal function of stress. It is the nervous system’s way of telling you it’s on overload and needs a break.  Scientists have discovered that the amygdala and hippocampus play a significant part in most anxiety disorders. The amydgala is the part of the brain that alerts the rest of the brain and lets it know a threat is present; this will trigger a fear or anxiety response. The job of the hippocampus is to convert threatening events into memories. Interestingly, research is showing that the hippocampus appears to be smaller in people who have suffered from child abuse or served in the military.

 

Further research will begin to provide clarifying information regarding not only the size of the hippocampus in PTSD sufferers, but also the cause of fragmented memories, deficits in explicit memories, and flashbacks.  Understanding the functionality of the brain will help scientists form more salient ways in which to provide medical relief for anxiety sufferers.

 

Fact: 8 percent of teens ages 13–18 have an anxiety disorder, with symptoms commonly emerging around age 6. However, of these teens, only 18 percent received mental health care.

 

How is anxiety usually treated?

Medication is one option typically given to anxiety sufferers. It is a cure, but rather a means of managing the symptoms.  Often patients are given:

  • >Antidepressants
    • SSRIs, Tricyclics, MAOIs, anti-anxiety medications
  • Anti-anxiety drugs:
    • Benzodiazepines
  • Beta-blockers – which treat the physical symptoms of anxiety

In addition to medication or sometimes in lieu of, therapists may use modalities like:

You can also try one or all of these 8 tools for managing anxiety:

1. Deep breathing exercises: Deep diaphragmic breath helps activate the body’s relaxation response.  Practice exhaling on a longer count than your inhale. This is a wonderful tool to use to bring the heart rate down, provide oxygen to the blood and to the lungs.

 

2. Use calming visualization: Close your eyes and visualize a place that elicits a state of calm. It could be the beach, the mountains, a forest, being in the ocean, or doing something else that you love. This is a way of accessing one of your resources—something that calms you and engages your body’s nervous system.

3. Do something physical: go to the gym, go for a run, do a strong yoga class, do some jumping jacks, skateboard, or roller skate. In other words, get your endorphins going.

4. Play a musical instrument. For example, one of our teens plays the bass when he’s anxious.  Perhaps you play the guitar, or the accordion. Get down and make some music!

5. Connect with a friend so you are not alone. Maybe watch a funny movie together or blast some music and have a silly dance party.

6. Create a gratitude journal.  Write down 5 things you are grateful for and challenge yourself to write this list every day .

7. Focus on a meaningful, goal orienting activity: playing a game with a friend, building something, creating art, or singing.

8. Accept that you are anxious – it is a feeling. It doesn’t mean you like it or want it to be there, it means you are accepting where you are in that moment. The more you talk about how anxious you are, the more anxious you will feel. Accepting where you are allows you to stay in the present–when we are anxious, we are stuck in the future.

 

Anxiety can be accepted and worked with or it can be ignored. Ignoring it leaves you vulnerable to persistent dysregulation and misery. Addressing anxiety and facing it head on allows you to develop self-regulatory techniques. The latter will facilitate emotional regulation and the ability to approach triggers and difficulties more skillfully.

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Recovery

What is DBT and Can It Help Your Teen

What is DBT and Can It Help Your Teen

DBT stands for dialectical behavior therapy which is a cognitive behavioral therapy technique used to help teens and people who have a problem controlling and regulating their emotions and their reactions to those emotions. It was developed by Marsha M. Linehan at the University of Washington and was meant to help women who were chronically suicidal. Her patients had previous records of suicide ideation and attempts and involved in self-injury practices.  

She later determined that her patients were mostly showing symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. Those who suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder react more strongly to certain events and emotions and will usually have extreme mood swings. Some people react more strongly and in a potentially dangerous way to certain emotional events and situations. Their emotions are also more easily aroused and take longer to come down to baseline levels, making them less likely to react in an objective manner.

Since its development, DBT has become a widely adopted technique for helping a myriad of serious problems in children, teens, and adults such as being suicidal, impulsiveness, and difficulty regulating emotions or handling emotions such as family conflicts and problems. In fact, DBT has proven to be very effective in treatment of severe dysfunctional disorders that normally occur in multiplicity and suicidal tendencies.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has been proven to work and has helped teens who have a problem handling emotions constructively learn how to deal with those emotions without harming or putting themselves and/or others in danger.

Various therapy and treatment centers such as Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers use DBT in the treatment of various disorders or problems that affect teens such as suicidal tendencies, self-harm, anger issues, interpersonal difficulties, and drug and substance abuse.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy requires not only the willingness of the patient to change their behavior and situation, but also the support of family, relatives, peers, and friends. Normally, DBT sessions will be held both in one-on-one sessions with the therapist as well as in group and family sessions.

What makes Dialectical Behavior Therapy so effective is the fact that it changes the mindset of the patient so that they understand better how they feel, how to regulate their emotions and impulses, and to take others into consideration before acting.

Please call one of our specialists at Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers or click below

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Recovery

Can My Teen Be Obsessed With Being Healthy

Can My Teen Be Obsessed With Being Healthy

Being healthy is something more people are taking seriously. While it is definitely a good thing that more people care about their health, being health-conscious has turned into a fad for some and an obsession for others. This is due to, among other things, the media, specifically when it is related to body weight, shape, and size.  

Parents are worried, and rightfully so, whether the trend of being healthy is likely to affect their children and especially teens who are preoccupied with their body image. Cases of teens suffering from food disorders such as bulimia and anorexia are well-documented and on the rise. This gives real credence to parents worrying about whether their child has a health obsession.

It is important for a parent to address any concerns they may have that their teen is suffering from a health obsession. Health concerns are at the forefront, for an obsession with being healthy shows that there are emotional, social and/or psychological issues to be dealt with.

Another eating disorder that has been on the rise is orthorexia, a condition in which one is obsessed with eating right. People suffering from orthorexia want to have total control over what they eat, making eating out or in a social setting almost impossible. They will also shun anything that is or contains ingredients that they consider unhealthy. While knowing what one is consuming and how it affects their body is a good and health-conscious thing, obsessing about it is not. The number of teens being diagnosed with orthorexia has been increasing at high rates.

The only way to determine if your child has a health obsession is to be observant and ensure that you are communicating effectively and frequently with them. Being on the lookout for health obsession signs and symptoms enables a parent to act early.

The earlier qualified therapists and professionals skilled in dealing with such problems are involved, the easier it is for the therapy to work. It is prudent to leave the recovery of a teen who is obsessed with being healthy to experienced and well-trained personnel, such as those found at Visions Adolescents Treatment Centers.

Please call one of our specialists at Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers or click below.

Categories
Family Mental Health Parenting Recovery

How Can Great Leadership Relate to Recovery?

We know all about leadership in the workplace, however, the theory of leadership is also applicable to the “job” of parenting and the role of treatment in recovery. In our role as parents, we are leaders. We lead our children toward making good choices; we redirect them when they stray; we nurture them when they need to grow; we provide them with a safe container–the tribe of family–to lean into when times get tough; and we provide discipline when they need it.

 

Ultimately, when one of our family members gets sick with mental illness, we lead them toward a path to safety and recovery. Likewise, when one of our family members struggles with addiction, we lead them toward a path to safety and recovery. These actions are all part and parcel to being a great leader.

 

Still, with addiction and mental illness, we know that both have an inherent negative effect on the health of the family. Emotional and sometimes physical safety is compromised; trust is also compromised. We also know that addiction and mental illness can be a direct response to an injured family root system.

 

When a family comes into treatment, Visions begins the process of teaching them how to be better leaders and partners within their family system. Visions’ clinicians and support staff lead families toward healing and self-discovery via individual and group work. We provide them with opportunities to take the lead in their own self-care though contemplative practices. We teach them how to make good choices; we redirect them when they stray; we nurture them when they need to grow; we provide them with a safe container to lean into when times get tough; and we provide discipline when they need it.

 

The recovery process can be muddy: It’s difficult at times and emotionally raw, but it’s worth every tear and every sweaty brow. Recovery is like finding your footing after you fall, and taking a shaky step forward. Recovery is being able to hold yourself and those around you with compassion and care. Recovery is also the process of letting go of negative relationships, old ideas, old stories, and self-loathing. Recovery is the development of kind awareness of our selves and others, and the ability to create healthy boundaries in our relationships. Great leadership fosters recovery, and great willingness lets it sink in.

Categories
Recovery

Why Is My Child Using The Bathroom After Every Meal

Why Is My Child Using the Bathroom After Every Meal?

An increasing number of children, teenagers, and adults are suffering from eating disorders. There are a number of eating disorders that are affecting more and more of the population, including bulimia and teen anorexia. While eating disorders affect children as young as 9 years old as well as adults, the majority of those with various eating disorders are teenagers, who may drop the habit over time or retain it into adulthood.  

The most common eating disorders among teenagers is anorexia and bulimia. Anorexia is a psychological condition that causes the person to have an unnatural fear of gaining weight and feel repulsed by food or thoughts of eating. A bulimic teen/ person will eat and the purge the food they have just eaten from their systems.

Teen anorexia and bulimia can be a difficult thing to catch in the early stages, and bulimic teens and people can hide it successfully for a long while. Teens who suffer from bulimia or anorexia take great measures to avoid food and stay thin. Some of the things people suffering from anorexia do in order to stay lean include:

Stalling while eating e.g. by starting up conversations and moving the food around.

Exercising even in bad weather

Eating very little amounts of food

Avoiding gatherings or places where food is available

Obsessing over calories and dieting

Always claiming to not be hungry

Following certain rituals when eating or preparing food

Sudden change in emotional state e.g. being more irritable or depressed and mood swings

Teens suffering from anorexia and bulimia will also try purge the food they eat, typically by taking laxatives or forcing themselves to throw up. They normally do this after a binge eating session or when they are caught and forced to eat. So to avoid being found out while purging food, anorexic and bulimic teens do it in private. One of the places most bulimic teens head to after a meal is the bathroom so that they can force themselves to throw up what they have just eaten.

Eating disorders in kids can be frustrating, but you’ll need to get it in control early. Never panic.

Please call one of our specialists at Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers or click below

Categories
Anxiety Parenting Recovery Self-Care Stress

Is Your Teen Stressed About Graduation?

It’s time for Graduation!

During graduation time, it’s not uncommon for many teens to fall under great pressure from parents and teachers to exceed in academia or to get accepted into the ideal university. Stress tends to be high at the end of the year, no matter how you spin it. Often times, stress is somaticized (converted into physical symptoms) and it shows up in the form of : stomach aches, headaches, difficulty sleeping, eating more or eating less, and even mood swings.

 

Unfortunately, some kids turn to drugs and alcohol to attempt to quell the anxiety and physical manifestations of their stress, while others may sink into depression. Under stress, our nervous systems go on the fritz, thrusting the body toward a fight/flight/freeze response. If there is no healthy outlet to discharge that stress, it manifests physically.

 

At the end of the year, when graduation looms, there’s a very real potential for an increase alcohol and drug use, anxiety, and depression. We know that adolescent substance abuse tends to rise in the summer months of June and July. According to a report recently released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “approximately 11,000 adolescents use alcohol for the first time, 5,000 try their first cigarette, and 4,500 begin using marijuana” during the months of June and July. But facts aside, what can we, as parents, educators, and mental-health professionals do about it? Can you commit to this:

  • Create safe, open spaces for our kids to talk to us.
  • Create a  safe, open environment to facilitate healthy dialogue.
  • Be present for your kids, emotionally and physically.
  • Take care of your own needs and make sure your history is not spilling onto your kids’ present.

For teens already in recovery, managing that end-of-year stress around graduation is crucial:

  • Use your resources and ask for help from parents, teachers, your sponsor, mentor, or another safe adult.
  • Create prioritized lists, checking things off as you go.
  • Create a schedule.
  • Make time for self-care. Healthy physical activity is great for getting the endorphins going, a bubble bath is self-soothing, yoga or meditation will help you get grounded and settle in.
  • Take breaks. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Take short 10-minute breaks every half hour and stretch, get up, walk around. You’ll notice an increase in your productivity.
  • Hang a picture of something or someone that inspires you near your workspace.

Try and remember that graduation is something to celebrate. It’s a wonderful accomplishment and something you’ve been working toward since childhood. All of the scraped knees, tears, trophies, reports, dissections and memorization got you to this place. Celebrate it healthfully!

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Recovery

Find Extended Care For Teens in Santa Monica, CA

Find Extended Care for Teens in Santa Monica, CA

NeXT is the first licensed Extended Care Facility in California. The adult living and education center, a one of a kind facility, provides a safe, supportive living program where residents can learn to implement acquired skills leading to a healthy lifestyle.  

The extended care for teens facility is located in beautiful Santa Monica, home to beautiful sunsets and life-time surfing experiences, making it a perfect therapeutic environment for teens. If care centers are to succeed in changing the lives of residents, the centers must be a home away from home. The teens must not feel like they are being secluded from the rest of society. They must continue to enjoy the freedoms that come with being a teen. That is exactly what NeXT offers.

Some of the standout features of the facility include;

  • Gender specific homes – the psychological, physical, and sexual changes usually experienced in the adolescent stages makes it important to have girls separated from boys.
  • 15 to 18 years old admittance – this is the period associated with most developments in teen life. By offering extended care for this group of teenagers, the facility can eventually manage to impact on lives of a larger number of teens.
  • Minimum length of stay is pegged at 90 days – a long enough period to not only take in the knowledge but also practice implementation of acquired skills.
  • Required involvement from at least a family member or a legal guardian – helping our teens starts at the family level; the involvement of someone close to the resident can only strengthen the bond between the teen and his or her family.

The center works in collaboration with local educational institutions as well as local therapists and therapeutic service providers. Your son or daughter will benefit from;

  • Day staff supervision and an awake night staff
  • 24/7 crisis intervention
  • Transportation

NeXT provides both mental health care and training aimed at reversing substance abuse and co-occurring disorders. Teens are therefore trained on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, devoid of drugs and destructive behavior. They are taught how to recognize and change mental health issues and problematic behaviors.

Please call one of our specialists at Vision Adolescent Treatment Centers on 866-889-3665 or click here for more information.

Categories
Recovery

Find Dual Diagnosis Teen Programs Near Southern California

Find Dual Diagnosis Teen Programs Near Southern California

Dual diagnosis, often used interchangeably with co-occurring illnesses, co-morbidity, co-morbid disorders, dual disorders, double trouble, concurrent disorders, or co-occurring disorders, is a term used to describe a condition where the same person is suffering from a mental illness and co-morbid substance abuse. Many people with drug and alcohol problems are usually likely to suffer from a range of mental health complications such as depression and anxiety, compared to the rest of the society.  

But how do you tell which problem came first? Did their mental problems prompt them to use drugs, or did the drugs cause the mental illnesses? Considering the fact that use of drugs often intensifies mental illness, dual diagnosis can be very difficult to treat. It has also been found that mental illnesses and substance abuse do not overlap, meaning that the two conditions have to be diagnosed separately. What if a person completely recovers from one condition but fails to acknowledge the other? Each illness usually has symptoms that can affect the teen’s ability to function properly.

Vision Adolescent Treatment Centers now provide dual diagnosis programs in teens for victims, offering both psychiatric diagnosis and substance abuse diagnosis.

What are the characteristics of dual diagnosis?

Experts in dual diagnosis programs in teens have found that teens suffering from dual disorders are likely to have the following characteristics;

  • Highly emotional
  • Don’t easily cooperate with healthcare providers
  • Are mostly alienated with little to no support from their families
  • Often have severe psychiatric symptoms
  • Are prone to relapses
  • Are frequently hospitalized or taken to emergency or accident departments

Dual diagnosis patients are often blamed by healthcare providers for being difficult to work with or unresponsive to treatment. Healthcare providers are also known to treat alcohol and drugs as a secondary illness, even if that may not be the case. Sometimes the mental illness is treated and the drug abuse dismissed as a minor side effect. Proper diagnosis and treatment of dual diagnosis will therefore remain a challenge for the foreseeable future, though there are ongoing collaborative efforts to make it a health care priority.

The dual diagnosis programs near southern California aim at effectively diagnosing the condition leading to proper treatment, as well as family and self care training.

Please click below to schedule your consultation, or call us at 866-889-3665

Categories
Recovery

Find CA Treatment Centers For Depression in Adolescence

Find CA Treatment Centers for Depression in Adolescence

Depression affects 16% of the population in the US. What is astonishing is how many more teens suffer from medical depression as compared to children. From a prevalence rate of just 2% in children, depression is reported to affect up to 7% of adolescents and a massive 20% of teens. This tells you just how vulnerable our sons and daughters are on their way to adulthood. Even worse is the fact that 8% of depression cases in teens usually last longer than a year.  

Well, depression is now treatable with treatment centers for teen depression, but how many teens are receiving help? Research shows that only one out of five depressed teens receive treatment. This is because these kids rely on their parents, guardians, and teachers to identify their problems and assist them in finding treatment.

As a parent it is therefore important that you learn to differentiate the “bad moods” from medical depression. Teen depression, unlike occasional mood swings, is a serious medical condition that if left unchecked, can lead to alcohol abuse, pregnancy, self-loathing, violence, self injury, and even suicide.

Symptoms         

Some of the symptoms you will be looking out for include:

  • Sadness
  • Relentlessness
  • High emotions
  • Withdrawal from family and friends
  • Changes in sleeping and eating habits
  • Lack of energy
  • Thoughts of suicide
  • Feeling of worthlessness
  • Lack of motivation

One way of telling whether or not its depression is to consider how long the condition lasts and the impacts it is having on the teen. How much has it changed his or her lifestyle, personality, and behavior?

Seek professional help from treatment centers for teen depression

As soon as you establish that the teen is suffering from depression, you’ll need to immediately inform your doctor. The doctor will start by performing a depression screening, then follow it up with a complete physical exam. Blood samples are usually taken to help determine the cause of the condition.

However, for a complete diagnosis and treatment of depression, your teen will need to see a specialist psychiatrist or psychologist.

For those who live in California, please click below to schedule your consultation or call 866-889-3665 to speak with a specialist at Vision Adolescent Treatment Centers.

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