Tag Archives: treatment

Teens with substance abuse problems

Most teens enrolled in troubled teen boarding schools have either experimented with or are experienced drug abusers. The drugs they use are usually gateway drugs like marijuana, alcohol, and ecstasy. Older students in some cases have moved onto harder drugs, and some have even spent time selling drugs to support their habits. Many students steal from their family members to pay for their habit.

It is sad that some families have to dead bolt the doors to their rooms to prevent their belongings from being stolen while they are gone. Some boarding schools incorporate substance abuse treatment into their daily routine. Some use a 12 step program with students attending meetings either on site or at a location close by. One thing most teen boarding schools have in common is students in need of a substance abuse program. It is important to make sure any placement option parents consider address the substance abuse issue.

Troubled Teens Dealing Drugs

When a teen tries and eventually gets hooked on drugs they will eventually need to find a way to support their habit. Drug abuse usually leads to termination of any employment they may have previously had. With the economy as poor as it is currently, finding a job can be a difficult venture. The easiest option with no application process is selling drugs to pay for their habit. Many parents are shocked to find that their child has been dealing drugs. One precursor to the teen actually becoming a drug dealer is the loss of objects from the house. If things start to come up missing, and your child has a new group of friends this may be a sign that your child is heading in a negative direction.

Boarding Schools and Drug Abuse

Most boarding schools are for the most part drug free zones. This is not always the case, and it is possible for drugs to be taken into the school from time to time. Some schools check the student’s belongings when they return from a home visit or a trip away from campus. This does not assure that inappropriate items will not get by those doing the inspection. Sometimes a student’s sibling will even bring something on campus for their relative so they can get high.

Some schools have drug sniffing dogs that check the student’s items when they return. Most boarding schools will check a new students belongings very carefully when they first arrive, but are a little more lax when the student has just returned from a visit. Parents would also be wise to sort through their child’s belonging prior to traveling. It would be devastating for a parent to unknowingly help their child smuggle drugs on an airplane.

Boarding schools can help teen drug addiction

Leave a reply

Many teen boarding schools have students that are dealing with drug addiction. The earlier the drug abuse begins, the more likely it will progress to more serious abuse. The adolescent usually does not understand why they are addicted to drugs. Because their brain is still developing, they have a hard time with decision making, judgment and self-control, so this makes them more prone to become addicted to drugs. A teen’s environment may also be a reason that they turn to drugs. Just life in general for a teen can be stressful. With some teens they have to deal with peer pressure, physical and sexual abuse, stress.

Quality of parenting can greatly influence the teen. They may be dealing with a single mother, just trying to make ends meet. Or the teen may have both parents around, yet are busy working and lack the parenting skills necessary to connect with the teen and so they turn to drugs. The teen may live in a stable environment and then they may face something in their life that they don’t know how to deal with and would be too ashamed to talk to their parents about. This could be a reason for them to turn to other means such as drugs to help ease the pain.

Attending a teen boarding school can help the teen with their drug abuse. Living at the boarding school the teen is not able to access any drugs. They also are away from their negative environment and so this helps them to deal with their addiction. Another advantage of attending a teen boarding school with relation to drug addition is that the teen is able to be drug free and have a clear mind.

This will help their progress at the boarding school and when they have finished their stay, they will have a better chance at staying drug free. At the teen boarding school the environment is such that the teen will have better success because they not only deal with their drug abuse, they also are able to address other issues that are at the core of their substance abuse.

Drug addiction is a preventable disease. Because drugs change the brain in ways that foster compulsive drug abuse, quitting is difficult. We know more today about how drugs work in the brain and so drug addiction can be successfully treated to help teens stop abusing drugs and lead a productive life.

Teen Drug Abuse – Teen Substance Abuse Programs

Leave a reply

Teen Drug Abuse

Drug abuse, also known as substance abuse, involves repeated and excessive use of chemical substances. These substances give different effects to the user, effects that can become addictive and dangerous. Some of the effects of drug abuse include powerful charges of energy while others give a feeling of relaxation or calmness. Drug abuse is becoming much too prevalent in our society today. Along these lines, it is becoming more and more common for individuals to become addicted to prescription drugs and unfortunately, it is affecting all ages and backgrounds.

Drug Abuse and Prescription Drugs

Prescription drugs are medicines that are prescribed to a patient by a doctor to cure or treat a number of health conditions, such as: diabetes, high/low blood pressure, or cancer. Prescription drugs can also be used to aide with mental health disorders such as depression, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). If taken strictly how the doctor or specialist prescribes, prescription drugs can help patients control their sicknesses, fight off infection, and even cure an illness. However, a recent study done by the National Institute of Drug Abuse estimated that twenty percent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons. And, abuse of prescription drugs has increased among teenagers and young adults. In fact, the same study found that in the past year abuse of prescription pain killers now ranks second-only behind marijuana-as the Nation’s most prevalent illegal drug problem.

It has been found that there are three classes of prescription drugs that are most commonly abused. They are: opioids such as codeine, oxycodone, and morphine; central nervous system (CNS) depressants such as Valium (diazepam) and Xanax (alprazolam); stimulants such as Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine) and Ritalin (methylphenidate). Prescription drugs can be very dangerous when taken without a doctor’s supervision. If certain prescription drugs are mixed with other drugs or alcohol, they become lethal.

Prescription Drug Abuse Side Effects

Common effects of prescription drugs include: anger, hostility, dizziness, slurred speech, nausea and vomiting, exhaustion, sleeplessness, increased heart rate and breathing, coma, and even death. If taken incorrectly, prescription drugs can become just as dangerous and addictive as cocaine or heroin.

Drug Abuse and Help

Whatever type of drug abuse a person is involved with, there is always help. A loving, strong support system is one of the most important components in helping an individual with a drug abuse problem. Open communication and listening-without-lecturing are very important when dealing with an individual who is involved with drug abuse. Residential treatment centers and outpatient therapy are also very successful in helping with a drug abuse problem. Medications can help an individual with a drug abuse problem cope with the withdrawals and help re-establish normal brain function to prevent relapse and reduce cravings throughout the treatment process.

Residential Treatment Centers – Teen RTC’s

Leave a reply

Residential Treatment Centers

The abbreviation for this type of location is R.T.C. Some insurance companies will pay for placement in a R.T.C. if they do however, they must be accredited with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare or J.C.A.H.O. To be J.C.A.H..O. approved there are more requirements that need to be met than just being licensed as a R.T.C. facility. Usually an insurance company will pay for around 30 or 60 days in a R.T.C. type facility. This sometimes is more like a vacation for the teen. The other drawback is the fact that it is short term. Short term is typically not adequate to help make lasting changes in a teen’s life. If you are considering placement in a R.T.C. you should usually plan on following it up with a long term placement.

This type of placement is usually necessary if the teen has been more heavily involved in substance abuse and will need a de-tox period. Residential Treatment Centers are typically more of a clinical type placement rather than a boarding school placement. There are R.T.C.’s however that include education, and behavior modification as part of their milieu.

Things To Consider

When searching for the best facility for your teen you may want to take the following into consideration. There are long term Residential Treatment Centers that will in some cases qualify for insurance coverage if the facility meets the insurance companies qualifying criteria. Residential Treatment Centers vary in price as well as typical length of stay. Sometimes a program will have two different price structures. They will have one program price for insured families and one program price for non insured families. The program is in essence giving a discount to the family for bearing the total financial burden of their teens care. It is good to find out if and what your insurance plan will cover before you begin the process of searching for a school or Residential Treatment Center. If you know what your insurance companies parameters are it may save you some time in your search.

What if your only hope for help is through your insurance company?

If financially you are unable to pay for a program, school, or Residential Treatment Center and your health insurance is your only hope of financially being able to place your teen. You will need to find out exactly what they are most likely to pay for. You can contact your benefits coordinator at work or review your benefits manually. You can also contact the numbers on the back of your insurance card.

This will require some patients and you should be prepared to be put on hold several times and transferred several times before you find the appropriate person to give you the information you are looking for. Be sure to write the name down of anyone that has been helpful so you can get back in touch with them directly. If possible have your insurance company send you a letter stating that they will pay for the facility you are considering, and if possible have them send you some alternative choices within their network of facilities. If you find an out of network program that you prefer, there may still be some help available but usually at a reduced rate or shorter length of stay. Some R.T.C.’s have a benefit person in the admission’s office that may be able to help you, but usually you will have more time, and interest to pursue this information than they will.

Other Treatment Programs

The term “treatment program” usually indicates that there is some kind of therapy or psychiatric care involved within the program. A lot of the programs and schools popping up today are more of a Teen Boarding Schools than a treatment program. There are two schools of thought regarding treatment programs. First, from the professional you will usually be urged to include some therapy in whatever placement you settle on. This is good if the teen is cooperative. Most of the teens we deal with are not willing to do anything their parents want them to do. Their feeling is: (I don’t have a problem, let my parent get therapy they are the one that has a problem, or if they will leave me alone I will be fine). If you don’t have a willing participant therapy obviously will not work.

The second thought is, if you can get the teen to start to accept the fact that they have a problem and need help they will want to make changes in their life. Sometimes they will work themselves out of the negative situation they are in. This, of course, would not be the case if there are underlying issues of abuse, or problems similar to fetal alcohol syndrome, or detachment disorders, etc. There are, of course, a myriad of diagnoses that are thrown around today. This is not said to undermine the psychiatric community in anyway. It is possible, however, that the teen may just be in need of structure and discipline rather than medication and therapy. With the broad variety of programs now available you should be able to find one that will include therapy and behavior modification, or just one or the other. You will find that you will get a different answer from just about everyone you talk to. You will receive advice from just about everyone.

The decision still ultimately rests on your shoulders, and you will have to live with the consequences. The best advice is to do what you feel is right. After having collected all of the information and having eliminated programs that you know definitely wont work, you should be left with a few good choices. Finances are always a consideration, though they aren’t the main factor. Of course you will do what ever you can to save your child’s life, but you can only help as much as you are financially able. A parent should never consider themselves a failure for having to choose an treatment program.

When your child is sick with a fever you take them to the Doctor. He is able to help because he has been trained to do so. If your teen is in need of behavioral help, it is equally as important to seek help from someone that has had success in helping others with their behavioral problems. This is in no way a sign of failure but one of strength that you had the ability to do what was best for your child, even though it may have been the most difficult choice.

Therapeutic Boarding Schools

One option available to parents with defiant teens is often referred to as a Therapeutic Boarding School. This differs from traditional boarding schools in that they offer therapy along with the other components characteristic of these types of schools. Some have on staff Therapists, Social Workers, Psychologists, even Psychiatrists. Therapeutic Schools have counseling as a part of the daily or weekly schedule. In some cases the more Therapy there is the higher the price of the program. In some locations the Therapist or Councilor, or Doctor may only visit on a regular basis, and is not on the premises at all times. In some programs the Therapist or Doctor may be more hands on working with the kids on a daily basis. This allows the professional to see the child in a day to day setting this cuts down on the manipulation that typically goes on in a therapy session.