Category: Recovery

5 Tips on How To Prevent Your Teen From Harming Themselves

Preventing Teen Suicide

Self-harming behavior such as cutting, scratching, and burning, among others, is rather common in distressed teens. These teens don’t know how to verbalize their feelings yet and act on them by harming themselves. Teens choose self-harm to ease overwhelming emotions and to sooth deep feelings of sadness. They might also do it to express self-hatred or shame. Many times they also harm themselves because they feel helpless.  

Though self-harming is known as Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) because there is usually no intention to commit suicide, the behavior can often lead to deliberate suicide.

So, What Can I Do as a Parent?

As soon as you learn about your teens self-harming behavior, it is important that you take them to a therapist for assessment, where they will also be taught how to deal with painful situations.

In addition to that you should do the following:

1. Help them understand situations that trigger the behavior – they should understand that everyone goes through difficult times which can cause negative feelings. You can always talk about your own triggers and how they make you feel.
2. Suggest that they engage in less severe behavior – self-harming is addictive, you don’t just walk away from it. Where the urge is persistent, suggest a few less severe behaviors such as tearing papers, pounding a pillow, or snapping a rubber band.
3. Modeling positive imagery in front of them – visualizing the good things can greatly reduce anxiety and painful feelings. When you practice positive imagery in front of your teens, they will learn to do the same even in your absence. For example, you can talk aloud when visualizing a soothing place you have been to.
4. Have a coping kit – the kit can contain helpful journals, upbeat music, and collections of photos of family, friends, and their heroes. Typically, it should comprise most of the things your teen finds calming. Make the kit easily accessible.
5. Be compassionate – let the teen know that you are always available to help them. In the event of a set-back, you must offer non-judgmental support. Do not overreact, criticize or shame them.

It is not easy to overcome self-harming. However, with your help and persistence, you can help them get over these behaviors and live a better life.

Please call 866-889-3665 to speak to a professional at Visions about preventing teen suicide.

What are Bath Salts and Can My Child Get High

Regular bath salts, such as Epsom salts, contain Magnesium sulfate, whereas sea salt contains Sodium sulfate, which is a staple ingredient for a typical and true bath salt. These are not the bath salts that have been the cause of the anti-narcotics agencies and medical practitioners latest head ache. Moreover, the impostors being used as drugs are not necessarily the brands being sold at regular drugstores. The bath salts that have had many people calling poison centers because of an emergency are sold under various street names such as:  

• Ivory wave
• Purple wave
• Vanilla sky
• Bliss
• Hurricane Charlie

Users have been taking the drug through snorting, injecting, and mixing it with food and drink. It is said that these particular bath salts contain methylenedioxyprovalerone or MDPV which gives the user a methamphetamine-like high. These bath salts are reportedly even more powerful than heroine and crack. Their effects may include:

• Rapid heart rate
• Intense craving
• Visual hallucinations
• Paranoia
• Psychosis
• Self-mutilation
• Suicidal thoughts
• Agitation
• Chest pains

There have been reports of users stabbing themselves in the face and stomach, while the son of a physician slit his own throat and proceeded to shoot himself in the head after enduring three days of what was termed “intermittent delirium.” Two law enforcement agents who had an encounter with a user under the influence were injured since the assailant thought he was fighting “two devils.” In July 2012, the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act made it illegal to possess, use, or as distribute many of the chemicals that are used to make the bath salts. Another chemical is Methylone or mephedrone which has also been placed under a regulatory ban by the DEA.

This law covers chemicals that are or can be used as ingredients to make synthetic drugs.

These drugs usually come in powder and crystal form. As such, they can pass as real bath salts and can be packaged and sold legally serving as a legal loop hole for dealers. The dealers also may add the misleading label “not for human consumption,” allowing them to get around the “Analog Act” under which substances which are substantially similar to illegal drugs are deemed illegal.

Click below to schedule an appointment, or call one of our specialists at 866-889-3665.

Why is My Child Smoking Pot?

The negative effects of smoking pot are well documented; increased risk of cancer, abnormal cell division, altered mental functioning and risk of brain abnormalities to name just a few.  

The big question then is why a child would ever think of smoking marijuana. How did he or she start smoking? What triggered the smoking? Surprisingly, most pot smokers say they had their first puff before their eighteenth birthday. At this young age, kids don’t really think that smoking can be addictive. To them, they imagine that they can test-smoke a couple of times and then take it or leave it. Before long they are usually addicted and smoking on a regular basis. They are actually likely to experience cravings and withdrawal symptoms just like adults.

There are several reasons why a kid may start smoking.

• Most kids are only experimenting and want to see what the fuss is all about. They have probably heard about pot several times and even know that the drug is illegal, but are excited to try it out. Since smoking pot is prohibited in most countries, children who get away with the first attempt without being caught can become exited at flouting the law.
• Many kids also say that they smoke pot because they want to appear older. According to them, if the older kids around them are smoking, they feel they must smoke as well if they want to be regarded with the same respect as the others.
• A number of children smoke when they feel low self-esteem. Sometimes they have to smoke to be accepted by their peers. Smoking pot, when others are doing the same, may earn them new friends and a certain status among their peers.
• A number of kids also smoke as a sign of rebellion, especially towards parents or those in authority.
• Of course most kids will start smoking if their friends are smoking.
• The child may also smoke pot if they have grown up in an environment where everybody else smoked it; parents, siblings, grandparents and others.

Summary

If you find out that your child is smoking pot, don’t panic. There are several ways to help them.

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

My Teen is Depressed

Adolescence is a trying time for both teenagers and parents. Teenagers are old enough to begin to desire more freedom yet most are not yet responsible enough to be granted all the freedom they desire. Parents have to deal with their child whom they no longer can treat and control like a kid but who is not yet an adult, yet insists on being treated like one. Raging hormones and predilection for risk-taking makes it very probable that a teen will get involved in activities and pick up habits that are detrimental to their physical, mental, social, and spiritual health.  

While growing up, teenagers, who until the onset of puberty have been seeking the approval and acceptance of their parents, relatives, and older siblings, suddenly want to be accepted by their peers. We all know that children can be cruel, making it harder for a teenager to fit in. To fit in, a teenager can sometimes resort to engaging in activities that are harmful.

Changes taking place in their bodies can result in a teenager having body image issues and low self-esteem, which makes them more prone to peer pressure and makes them more likely to want to fit in with the crowd no matter the cost. They pick up non-healthy practices as a result and in some cases that might escalate to various disorders such as bulimia and anorexia.

Not feeling accepted, beautiful, smart or charming as they would like to be, combined with what they may be going through at home or at school such as teasing and bullying, can make teenagers more prone to mood swings and stress, and that sometimes may lead to depression. Dealing with a depressed teenager is extremely challenging for parents as it is rare that the teenager will confide in their parents or guardians since they treasure their privacy like never before in their life.

It is therefore important for a parent to be on the lookout for signs of stress and depression and to make sure that the problem is confronted as soon as possible. There are various ways of dealing with stress and depression in a healthy way such as sports and art instead of destructive means like drugs.

A safe environment and open communication is also important in detecting, averting and reversing teenage depression at home.

Is It My Fault My Child is Hurting Themselves

It is normal for parents to feel anguished and distressed when they find out that their child is engaging in self-injury. No parent can be adequately prepared to deal with their child cutting or burning themselves. The fact that children, especially teenagers, are secretive and can successfully hide that they are suffering from child depression makes it harder for a parent to come to terms with the negative habit their child is involved in.  

Shock, shame, guilt, and helplessness are common emotions for a parent whose child is suffering from depression or hurting themselves. For one, most people think that children and people hurt themselves to get attention. This kind of thinking leaves the parent wondering if they have failed to give enough time and attention to their child. This can make them feel like they are directly responsible.

A parent may also feel guilty and responsible for not being attentive and keen enough to catch signs earlier. This makes them more reluctant to share their problems with other parents or professionals who are better equipped to deal with the problem.

However, parents should realize that most children who engage in self-injury are not suicidal though they may accidentally kill themselves when inflicting injuries on themselves, especially by cutting. Self-injury does not necessarily mean that someone is miserable but it does indicate a serious underlying problem, such as child depression or psychological issues and/or addiction in older children.

Children who engage in self-injury are not usually seeking attention as widely believed and go to great lengths to ensure that they keep others in the dark about it. They will usually succeed in keeping it a secret for some time, and those close to them are usually left feeling guilty that they did not discover it earlier.

A parent should not feel guilty because their child is involved in self-injury or like they may have missed signs of child depression right under their noses. The important thing to remember is that people harm themselves for various reasons and not necessarily depression or self-hating. It is therefore important for a parent to not expend energy and time feeling guilty but to focus on helping their child recover.

Find Help for My Child Who Smokes Marijuana

You just discovered that your son or daughter is smoking marijuana. How do you react? Many parents find themselves in shock. A few have actually gone ahead to throw out the child’s stuff out of emotion, in some serious cases even sending such children away from home. The truth though is that such actions may be of very little help. They reduce the chances of the child listening to what you have to say, reducing your ability to affect change.   

Drug addiction experts advise that you should start with the least intrusive methods as you move upwards, disregarding stages that fail to make an impact.

• Always start from within the family

At this level, engage the child in real communication. Start by talking about how important their health and general well being is to you. Chances are that the child already has enough information about the drug, maybe even more than you do. Even if this information might be incorrect, you may not be in a position to contradict them with accurate facts because they most likely believe that what they know is the truth. That’s why you may need professional help.

• Seek the help of a professional

The professional should help you understand the real risks of marijuana. You should also be able to learn how to pass the information to the child without scaring them. And be careful not to blow the risks out of proportion as it may cost you your credibility. You must be ready to reward the child for any improvements noticed.

If there is no improvement, it’s time to take the child to a professional counselor

• Counseling

There will be individual as well as family counseling sessions and as a parent you’ll have to be supportive of both. Even if you have to pay for the sessions, consider it money well spent.

• Child  rehab

This should be a last resort. If other methods fail to work, don’t be scared of putting the child into rehab. While there they will undergo intense therapies, a forced period away from the drug and enough time to regain self-awareness.

Summary

Marijuana use in kids can be frustrating but if you approach the issue with patience and understanding, you can get through to them.

Schedule your consultation or call us at 886-889-3665.

The entire family system needs to be held in the safety of empathic,

savvy clinicians and caregivers who can view each family individually rather than as cookie-cutter cutouts. We understand that each family is different and dealing with issues unique to their family system, however, there are similarities that occur in all families that find themselves confronted with mental health and substance abuse: abandonment, fear, shame, anger, resentment, sadness, confusion, and denial. Visions is a treatment community passionately working with families to facilitate healing from the roots up.  We recognize that many families feel unheard, as though cries for help or worries about loved ones have fallen upon deaf ears. Our family program recognizes this and provides several avenues of care; families find themselves and their difficulties to be seen, heard, and validated.

The goal is to redirect a family from using the familiar, albeit maladaptive methods of anger, frustration and substance abuse to manage difficulties. When a family is screaming at each other, communication is at a standstill. When a family is numbing out with drugs and alcohol, communication is at a standstill. When a family is enmeshed with an addict or alcoholic, the communication is at a standstill. These are all unhealthy ways of self-regulation and communication.

Families come to treatment seeking relief from the pain of watching their child suffer and from the effects of that suffering; they want their child to get better and they want their lives back. Sometimes, after their child gets healthy, they find themselves continuing to feel angry and frustrated. Visions asks that parents come to family groups, individual family sessions with a therapist, and even seek outside help to address these feelings. We all have things we need to look at, and nothing brings things to the surface like a tear in the family fabric. One person healing doesn’t mean everyone else automatically heals too; everyone has to do the work.

Visions encourages parents to utilize outside resources for self-investigation and to heal:

• Individual therapy
• Al-anon
• CoDA
• Parent Support Groups

It is our goal to provide the utmost support and care for the families that come through Visions. We want to see the family system thrive again, not just one branch of it. Help is just a phone call away.

My Child is Cutting Themselves – Why?

It is a frightening and disheartening thing for a parent to find out that their child is injuring themselves. In a moment of panic, one might even think that their child is attempting to commit suicide, especially if the child is cutting themselves. This is a misconception since most people engaging in self-injury and cutting use it as a coping mechanism to deal with distress. They are not trying to find a way to permanently end it all, but this is but a small consolation for parents who discover that their child is involved in self-injury.  

However, trying to deal with such a delicate situation without knowing the facts behind why people get into the habit of self-harm in general and in particular, why one’s child is cutting themselves up, can lead to disastrous results. There are many reasons why people inflict injury and physical pain on themselves and it is important to understand what the root cause of the behavior is and how best to deal with it.

In the past, it was believed that self-injury was a way of one trying to get attention but this has been proven to not be true. Most people who hurt themselves are children and teenagers who can start cutting themselves as early as when they are nine years old and usually hide it successfully from their parents. Teenagers get into risk-taking and dangerous things.

Whereas almost everyone will enjoy and feel the rush of taking drugs, if someone is experiencing the same effects by cutting themselves, then it shows that there is a deeper underlying issue that needs to be addressed. One of the major reasons why some young people engage in self-injury is to deal with emotional pain.

When children are dealing with emotional pain caused by physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, rejection, feelings of shame and disgust, or for any other reason, physical pain can dull the emotional pain. Girls are more likely to get into the habit of cutting themselves than boys and are usually dealing with emotional and psychological issues such as being abused or dealing with a break up. Boys will usually do it due to social and psychological issues.

It is important to communicate with the child or teen to understand their motivation, since injuring does not necessarily mean they are unhappy, as they may simply be doing it out of curiosity or experimentation.

Find My Teen Help For Eating Disorders in California

More and more teenagers are suffering from eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating in California, USA and elsewhere in the world. Girls suffer from eating disorders more than boys although boys do suffer from eating disorders as well. It is imperative that a parent knows what they are dealing with when faced with a child suffering from eating disorders since they are not only dangerous to the health and well-being of the child but also a symptom of a much larger issue.  

There are many reasons why children and adults develop eating disorders. One of the most common reason is to feel more attractive and desirable. Western media and culture extols leanness and being slim as the hallmarks of beauty and teenagers, in their desire to feel needed and wanted, may resort to negative habits such as inducing vomiting after meals in a bid to get slimmer. This may be in spite of the fact that they are already slim or of a normal body weight.

Low self-esteem and emotional distress can also trigger eating disorders in teens. They may become bulimic or anorexic in a bid to become more attractive or start eating food for comfort or due to boredom, resulting in binge eating. Other causes of eating disorders include depression, perfectionism, peer pressure, and being involved in activities where being slim is perceived as an advantage.

Teen eating disorders have many negative effects on the person who is suffering from them such as tooth decay and loss, thinning hair, and loss of muscle and bone density to name only a few. Those who use eating disorders as a way of dealing with depression get trapped in a vicious cycle since improper eating habits cause depression which makes the problem worse.

Understanding the cause of a teen’s eating disorder and opening up communication channels with the child are the first steps towards dealing with the problem. It is also important to learn what it will take for a child suffering from an eating disorder to recover, something a professional counselor is qualified to help with.

It is therefore important for a parent to be on the lookout for signs that would indicate that their child is suffering from an eating disorder and to find a way to gently but firmly get the teenager on the road to recovery.