Text Messaging

Text Messaging

As a father of a 10 year old, I know the time will come when my son will “need” a cell phone. What once was a convenience has now become a necessity. I’ll gladly pay his bill as long as he uses his phone wisely. If he goes over his minutes (which will be limited), he will have to pay the charges.

I bring this up because I have heard horror stories about kids abusing their cell phone privileges. In fact, many kids and adults as well, are addicted to phone messaging. The main culprit is text messaging. With texting you can send messages without talking, so you do not disturb anyone around you. People become addicted to this convenient way of communicating with their friends, and like all addictions, it ends up messing up their lives. Important responsibilities are traded for messaging. Bills go unpaid, appointments are missed, and one’s priorities become generally turned upside-down.

I recently heard of a teenager who racked up a 500$ bill due to excessive texting. Besides the financial toll, texting can lead to tendonitis in the thumbs and fingers. Students use their phones to cheat on tests, and many lose sleep because they are up all night chatting with friends. Perhaps the scariest thing about texting is that it is causing the English language to deteriorate. Many teachers report that texting abbreviations and jargon are showing up in formal academic writing. I’m not against texting, but like most things, there has to be a limit. We can’t allow text messaging to be the downfall of civilization.

The Thought Has Entered My Mind

The thought has entered my mind that an addict might not be constantly thinking about drugs, but rather in a certain moment they feel that they cannot live without it. You see, everyone has that one thing that they are addicted to. Whether it is work, gambling, shopping, pornography, sports, women, or merely superstition that controls them, everybody has something that they feel they either can't or won't live without. Almost everyday someone goes through a moment in time where they are a slave to a certain will or desire. For me it has never been drugs, but that doesn't mean that I don't have an addict's mentality sometimes. True, these slaves of mine will probably never land me in jail, cost massive amounts of money, or end with me in a pine box, but they could cost me in moral values, hinder my walk with Christ, or even take up my time. I do believe that the problems that we have now are the problems that we will have in our 50's. For some reason, I have never seen being a drug addict as just a problem. It has always been a foreign language to me until now. Working with these kids has opened my eyes to the plain and simple fact that they just have a problem, the same as me, you and everyone else on this planet.

Adam Byrd

The Choking Game-The warning signs

The Choking Game

I recently heard a story in the news about the latest craze. It seems that teens are getting high without the use of substances like drugs and alcohol. It’s called “The Choking Game, The Fainting Game, Black Out, or Pass Out.” The demographic is pre-adolescent and adolescent boys. They use a rope, a belt, their hands, or some other kid of tool to cause temporary asphyxiation. They usually choke themselves or each other until they pass out. The effect is a dream-like state of euphoria that lasts for a few seconds/minutes.

It’s obvious that this can cause neurological damage due to a lack of oxygen to the brain. There have been reported deaths due to the choking game. Because this phenomenon is not well-known and misunderstood, it is important to be aware of the symptoms:

• Your child keeping a rope, or plastic bag
• Bloodshot eyes
• Headaches
• Marks on the child's neck

Staff Member's Continued Education

I am a student at Loyola Marymount working to get my CADAC certification. In my Choice Theory class, we had to make a lesson plan and a syllabus to teach the inmates at CIW, a women's prison in Chino, CA about Choice Theory. This past Saturday we went to go meet the women at CIW and introduce the material that we will be helping them learn. It was the most amazing experience of my life. The women were so motivated to learn and seemed so excited. They were so open and honest and I got learn about their stories and their lives. It was so humbling, and made me so grateful for what I have in my life today. I could have been one of those women. Some of them were addicts and alcoholics. There was one woman there who had been in that prison for 21 years. It was amazing to me to see that she still hadn't given up on life, and was here trying to learn so that she could still make better choices. It was so inspiring. I plan on keeping in contact with the women I met there, and being of service to them as best I can. This experience has opened my eyes and made me realize how lucky I am, and how prison isn't the end for any of us.

ALCOHOL USE IN TEENS

ALCOHOL USE IN TEENS

Did you know that there has been an increase in the number of teens ages 11 – 15 who drink alcohol on a regular basis? The scarier thought is the fact that the amount of alcohol they drink in one setting is increasing as well. This phenomenon attributes to more teen drinking and driving incidents, suicides, sexual assaults, and high risk sex. Teens already have a hard time evaluating situations maturely and the introduction of alcohol only makes their decision making that much worse. They find themselves in situations they might not otherwise get themselves into. The more alcohol they consume overtime, the more the teen stands to impair their ability to properly react in situations, remember basic things, and their overall cognitive abilities are impaired, possibly for life. By exposing the brain to alcohol during the growing years of adolescence, teens are interrupting their brains’ development and opening themselves up to long term risks of liver damage, pancreatitis, cancers and possibly shrinkage of their brain.

Intervention at an early age is a must. It is reported that teens who start drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence at some time in their lives as opposed to those who have their first drink at age 20 or older.1


Here are a few other statistics:

The rate of fatal crashes involving alcohol in drivers 16-20 is more than twice that of drivers 21 and over.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among people ages 14-25. Alcohol increased the chances of those attempts.

About 10% of high school female students reported being raped and research suggests that alcohol use in the attacker and/or victim increases the chances of this occurring.

In 1995, 318 people between the ages of 15-24 died from alcohol poisoning alone. I’m sure the amount has increased since then.


Take a stand now to make these statistics decrease and with hope be eradicated…be present, intervene, and educate yourself…Never think your child or one that you know would never drink or use drugs. It’s a scary reality we cannot ignore.

Amy Lawhorn
Blog

1The Health effects of Teen alcohol use, http://teendrugabuse.us

VISIONS ADOLESCENT TREATMENT CENTER – THE HARDWARE STORE

VISIONS ADOLESCENT TREATMENT CENTER – THE HARDWARE STORE

I am an addict. So for me, something that comes along with that is the comfort of isolation and an emotionally walled off presence. When I arrived at Visions, I was thrown out of the box that is my comfort zone. Leaving me “raw” I went into survival mode because it was my automatic response to shelter myself from getting hurt. But contrary to most of the rest of my life I was treated with respect, surrounded by and incredible staff of people whose primary purpose was to be a positive example in my life and let me know that I wasn’t alone and didn’t have to face whatever I was feeling alone. During my time at Visions I made some profound changes in regards to the way I show up in this world. Visions didn’t make me show up differently, Visions is where I was given a tremendous opportunity to take suggestions and learn some tools. Perhaps the most important of those tools was getting connected with other addicts in recovery. To be honest without knowing I needed to do this I wouldn’t have stayed clean. But don’t go thinking that just knowing you need a support group is enough to keep you clean. But an addict with tools is just an addict with tools. Anyone can tell you “these are the tools.” But Visions gives you the opportunity to use these tools, and practice positive action in your everyday living and get some experience under your belt. So when you go back out into the world you have some experience in being a productive member of society.

Winzer
Blog

What is Drug Withdrawal?

“What Is Withdrawal? How Long Does It Last?”

Withdrawal is the variety of symptoms that occur after use of some drugs are reduced or stopped. Length of withdrawal and symptoms vary with the type of drug. For example, physical symptoms of heroin withdrawal may include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting and cold flashes. These physical symptoms may last for several days, but the general depression, or dysphoria (opposite of euphoria) that often accompanies heroin withdrawal can be easily treated with medications to ease the symptoms, but treating withdrawal is not the same as treating addiction.
Drug withdrawal has many variables. Everything from the type of drug, quantity of regular use, to the length of time the drug was abused. These all factor into how intense or mild an individual’s drug withdrawal experience will be. An example would be withdrawal from methadone. An individual who uses methadone over a period of several months to years who decides to discontinue use will experience a longer and more painful withdrawal than an individual who discontinues using heroin.
Another factor to be aware of during drug withdrawal is drug craving. Drug craving is the result of the drugs imprinting in the memory, a pleasant association of euphoria with the drug. The subconscious memory then motivates the individual to seek this drug because of the false imprint. The brain, in effect, has been trained that using the drug is the fastest way to feel good. Due to the extreme physiological or physical pain some experience during drug withdrawal they can relapse before they complete the withdrawal process.
These are important reasons why drug withdrawal should take place at an inpatient drug rehabilitation center. There, the individual will be removed from the immediate access to drugs or alcohol. Drug withdrawal done at an inpatient drug rehab also provides the safety of medical supervision by trained professionals who are better able to monitor the drug withdrawal process.

Work Cited: http://addictionwithdrawal.com/

Teresa Roy