The effective treatment of adolescents with substance abuse and behavioral disorders requires an approach that includes attention to every aspect of a young person’s life. We see every individual as a whole being. In addition to fully understanding the emotional, developmental, physical, psychological, familial, social and cultural factors, there must be appropriate resources in place to address these issues. Need help? Contact Us Today! (866) 889-3665
Amy Winehouse’s celebrity father is reporting that he once faked a heart attack in order to scare his daughter into getting clean. Obviously, the plan was not a success. The thing with using addicts is that we rarely have the ability to care for anyone but ourselves. It’s an enormously self-centered disease and I can recall wanting to care, but being unable to do anything but feed my drug and alcohol habit. Her father seems to be encouraged that Winehouse has replaced drugs with alcohol, but as a recovering addict, I can say that replacing one drug with another is simply prolonging the process.
In an effort to get off of “hard drugs,” I attempted to try drinking instead of using. It was probably one of the more disgusting periods in my using history. I still sought escape and obliteration, and had no ability to stop- no matter what I was using. It wasn’t until I was able to maintain total abstinence from all drugs, including alcohol, that I was able to deal with the core of my problem- me!
drug and alcohol treatment gave me a chance to be completely removed from my environment, which I feel was necessary for me. I was incapable of maintaining my resolve long enough to kick drugs on my own. Being separated from my old environment and old friends gave me some space to really look at my life honestly. In drug treatment, I was able to look at the disease of addiction in its entirety and how it was destroying my life and devastating my family. Once the fog of drug and alcohol use lifted, I was horrified to realize what I had become. In the compassionate world a good treatment center, I was able to process these feelings and was guided into a new way of thinking and approaching life. Appropriate behavior was expected of me, and in embracing the program’s structure actually helped me to find freedom, which seemed counterintuitive to me at the time.
Watching Winehouse in the media is like watching an awful train wreck in slow motion. I hope for her sake that something derails her from her destructive path before something truly terrible happens. It makes me sad because I know that recovery is possible for those that can make the effort. When my parents dragged me kicking and screaming to adolescent treatment, I thought it was the ultimate betrayal. Now, I see that their unwillingness to enable me further is what actually saved my life. Perhaps instead of faking heart attacks and encouraging her drinking, Amy’s father might consider refusing to participate in her insanity anymore. Now that I have found the gift of recovery through, I just hope that others can get this chance too.
Integrating Modern Psychotherapy & 12 Step Recovery Programs
How to Successfully Utilize Individual, Group and Family Treatment
presented by: Dr. Allen Berger
Saturday, August 1st, 2009
9:00am to 4:00pm
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital
Pueblo at Bath Street
Santa Barbara, California 93105
$35 Registration Includes: Presentations, Lunch, Refreshments and CEHs
Or Call Christina Howard at 714.855.6378
Please view the website or attachment for further details.
Hosted By:
Cottage Health System
Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers
Betty Ford Center
Safe Harbor Treatment Center for Women
Jaywalker Lodge
Saturday, August 1st, 2009
Integrating Modern Psychotherapy & 12 Step Recovery Programs
How to Successfully Utilize Individual, Group and Family Treatment
Presenting: Allen Berger, Ph.D.
Cottage Hospital
Peublo at Bath Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Presentations, Lunch and Continued Education Units
I somehow came across an article in Great Britain’s The Daily Mail that reported on a fourteen-year-old London girl who has been given an ASBO (a civil order made against a person who has been proven to have engaged in anti-social behavior) which prevents her from drinking in public. The girl has been arrested over 20 times in alcohol-related incidents, and she claims to consume about 12 alcoholic beverages a night. Since being hit with the ASBO, which forbids her from acquiring and consuming alcohol, she has vowed to cut back on her drinking, perhaps to two cans of lager a night rather than 12.
I’m sorry but I’m just baffled by this. Obviously this girl has a drinking problem and needs help. Nothing in the article indicated that receiving an ASBO to quit drinking would mean that the girl would actually be receiving counseling or adolescent drug and alcohol treatment to help her quit. I think it’s ridiculous that anyone expects this teen to figure out how to deal with her obviously huge alcohol problem on her own. I honestly stayed awake last night thinking about what an awful situation this girl is in. Not one person mentioned the idea of recovery or teen rehab for this girl. We don't recover alone.
More and more evidence is showing that teen binge drinking is a growing problem in the US and UK. There are countless articles blasting the problems of teenage binge drinkers, but very few aimed at solutions. Whenever I read articles like this one, I want to scream out, “There is a solution! It doesn’t have to be like this! You aren’t doomed to that life!” I guess this is where I can do it. I wish that parents and struggling teens everywhere could have what I have. I wish they knew that it was going to be okay, that change is possible. If your teen is struggling with alcohol and substance abuse problems and you have stumbled across this site, give your teen this second chance. I am so glad I got my new shot at life, and I really hope others can, too.
Most alcoholics begin drinking in their teens, but the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has concluded that a third of kids between ages 12 and 17 had their first drink before the age of 13. The Partnership for a Drug Free America revealed that ten percent of nine year olds have had more than a sip of alcohol. Columbia’s research indicates that people who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol and substance abuse problems than people who wait until they are 21 or older to begin drinking.
Many parents may expect to look for signs of alcohol abuse in high school, but more and more young people are abusing alcohol at much earlier ages. I think my drinking went undetected for some time simply because my parents did not assume their 12 or 13 year old could possibly have an alcohol problem. Unfortunately, as my drinking progressed, so did the consequences that became impossible to ignore. It wasn’t cute. It wasn’t a phase I was going through. Even at that young age, I felt that alcohol would always be a part of my daily life. I couldn’t imagine getting by without it.
I’m sure it was difficult for my parents to conclude that someone so young might actually need adolescent drug and alcohol treatment. It was certainly hard for me to think that I could possibly be an alcoholic at fourteen. Our culture often defines alcoholics as a real “grown up” disease, and recovery programs tend to cater to an older crowd. Fortunately, this attitude is changing, thanks to more media coverage and to adolescent treatment centers.
Visions was made just for me, and kids like me. No one there questioned my alcohol problem. They didn’t act like I was going through a phase, or acting out for attention. They gave me the serious attention I needed. As I have stayed sober over the years, I have come to believe that anyone has the right to recovery, regardless of age or anything else. Coming to Visions helped me take my problem seriously. Alcoholism destroys lives no matter how old you are, so why prolong the destruction? I’ve always felt that if I couldn’t pull off drinking into my twenties even, then I am definitely an alcoholic. Sometimes in 12 step meetings, older people like to joke about how young I am and even question why I’m there. I know that if I kept going at my previous rate, I might not get another chance to recover. I might be dead or in jail instead. I don’t care about those people and what they think of me. I’m changing my life. I’m getting another chance, and I will do what I need to do to keep it. Visions bolstered my resolve to recover. Going to meetings with them helped me remember that they had my back- that they believed in my ability to change my life. I know that there are more kids getting that chance every day there. I see them at meetings, or at alumni functions, or when I go there to work with a sponsee. Some people may not believe in the idea of a preteen alcoholic, but Visions does and for that I got a life. A real, good life.
I was recently talking to a new girl that I’d met in AA and asked her what she was doing for her summer. “I’m in rehab!” she responded, laughing. I could relate. We joked about her getting to say she spent the summer in Malibu, hanging out with new friends from all over the country, and eating good food, but really, summer is a great time to go to rehab. Some kids go to summer camp, and some of us go to adolescent drug treatment in Malibu.
Long stretches of days full of nothingness and minimal supervision are a good recipe for problems for a drug using teen. For me, summers were a big chunk of time that I got loaded and got into a lot of trouble. Rehab in the summer didn’t interrupt my life in any way, other than my using, and it kept me doing something functional during those long summer months. I was in a safe place where I couldn’t hurt myself and I learned to take personal responsibility for my actions. I began to want to change. By going away to teen drug treatment in the summer, I could return to my life with a new attitude and new tools to help me deal with my life. The extended adolescent outpatient program in Brentwood let me ease back into my world as I continued to be surrounded by other teens who were staying clean and learning to live life without drugs.
At first I was angry that I would be missing out on whatever my using friends were doing, but now I have a different opinion. No, I didn’t get to go on an exotic vacation like some of my friends, but I got to go on a trip that has turned into a lifelong journey. When people asked me how I spent my summer that year, I could tell them I spent it changing my life.
A Starbucks in Seattle will begin serving beer and wine to their coffee-drinking customers starting next week!
If the Seattle customers respond well, Starbucks is looking to expand the alcohol sales to other Starbucks locations in metropolitan cities across the country, with bottled beer and glasses of wine available for $4 to $7.
The coffee chain claims that the reasoning behind the alcohol sales is to give Starbucks a more authentic "European-style" feel, but we think $tarbucks are looking to make a quick buck!!
They've been closing LOTS of stores!
What do U think of having a glass of chardonnay on the side of your Caramel Macchiato???
Looks like good AA's we'll be going to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf after meetings for their caffeine fix...
An adolescent treatment center reported a twenty-two year old man from East London died this week from cirrhosis of the liver. He was denied a liver transplant based on guidelines requiring transplant recipients to remain sober for six months prior to the transplant. The young man, Gary Reinbach, had been bing drinking since he was an adolescent at the age of thirteen. Gary's story highlights the very real and tragic consequences of teen alcohol abuse in London and around the world.
When you are a teen, it is easy to think that drinking can’t actually hurt you, but Gary’s death shows otherwise. Cirrhosis of the liver seems like something only old men get, not young people. Great Britain has reported an increase in liver disease amongst thirty year olds following an increase in teen bing drinking. Researchers indicate that the more teens drinking will lead to more serious illnesses at a younger age.
Liver damage is not something I ever considered would happen to me when I was binge drinking as a teen. Was I on the same road as Gary? If Gary had gotten help in a teen alcohol rehab when he was a teenager like I did, would Gary still be alive today? Gary Reinbach’s death is very sad to me because it didn’t have to end like that. Maybe if Gary had gotten help when he was an adolescent he wouldn’t have done irrevocable damage to his liver. Youth does not deny teens a chance at recovery. It’s possible to stop using and live a new way of life. I’m glad I got the chance.
My friend recently pointed out to me that she had gone to the beach for the first time sober and that it was really weird for her. I totally understood. Part of getting sober means building new associations with people and places. In early recovery, I let people, places, and things trigger me- which means they made me want to use. I learned that I had a choice in what I let trigger me. It was all about perception and my willingness to change. Teen drug rehab helped me gain new experiences sober that helped me rebuild my perception of places. Because we were able to participate in recreational outings in, I learned that it was possible to have fun sober and I was able to go to the movies for the first time sober and with a group of other sober people. When we went to AA and NA meetings in different areas like Newport Beach, I learned to associate places with meeting locations rather than places I used to use drugs.
Treatment also helped me build new associations with my family and feelings about things. While I used to slip right into the role of the black sheep when around my family, in teen drug treatment we worked to change our dynamic and work on what was challenging us as a family. I had to take a lot of personal responsibility in how I treated my family. I also learned positive ways to deal with my feelings. Instead of letting a feeling make me use drugs or drink alcohol, I learned to write or talk about my feelings, or do something like take a walk or draw a picture. Adolescent drug treatment in Malibu gave me the opportunity to rebuild my life, and it started with rebuilding how I perceived the world. My fresh outlook on life has helped me change my life for the good. If your teen is struggling with substance abuse, Contact us today and help them find a new outlook on life.
Medical sources report Bam Margera's suspected "overdose" was a legitimate case of dehydration?
Margera was in the middle of a 4-day drinking binge to drown his marital sorrows when he was rushed to the hospital after his wife Missy learned the Jackass star had taken an Ambien on top of all the booze, according to Margera's mom.
Mixing Benzodiazepams like Ambien, Xanax, Valume...with alcohol is extremely dangerous and often results in overdose but apparently not for Bam.
Bam says he managed to damage his kidney and leg muscles from not keeping sufficiently hydrated or nourished while drinking.
Margera has returned home from the hospital after getting the green light from a psychiatrist and claims he's in "good health."
Might wanna lay off the booze, though! or you he may need to fallow his cast mate Stevo into recovery.
One major university has concluded a study indicating that underage drinkers consume 90% of their alcohol while binge drinking. This is no surprise to me really. Our culture, including the media, often promotes this attitude towards drinking. The problem for young people, is that younger drinking increases the chances of dependent drinking later on, and for some of us, that happens much earlier than others. The way I know that I was different from my drinking peers is that my life became quite unmanageable pretty quickly. I was consumed with the need to drink, and the longer I drank, the more I turned to other substances to increase my levels of intoxication. It was hard for me to see my peers “successfully” partying without the consequences I seemed to have. I couldn’t understand how they could be more in control than me. I resented having to go to adolescent rehab while my friends stayed home and continued to have fun. Fortunately, I was so miserable deep down that I felt desperate enough to give rehab a chance.
The following questions are taken from Alcoholics Anonymous’ website. These are the questions that really stood out to me and helped me honestly see my addiction to alcohol for what it was:
Do you ever wish people would mind their own business about your drinking- stop telling you what to do?
Do you envy people who can drink without getting into trouble?
Have you had problems connected to drinking in the last year?
Has your drinking caused trouble at home?
Do you ever try to get “extra” drinks at a party because you do not get enough?
Have you missed days of work or school because of drinking?
Do you ever have “blackouts”?
Have you ever had an “eye-opener” upon awakening during the last year? (a drink in the morning)
Have you ever decided you would stop drinking for a week only to last a couple of days?
Have you ever switched from one kind of drink to another in the hope that this would keep you from getting drunk?
Have you ever felt that your life would be better if you did not drink?
These questions helped me realize that maybe I wasn’t participating in normal social drinking. For whatever reason, I am an addict and alcoholic, and I just can’t succeed when I drink and use. Visions gave me the safe environment to build a new way of life. If these questions have led you to a similar conclusion, don’t hesitate to contact Visions today.
A recent study reports that teenage girls who use drugs and alcohol are more likely to make decisions that negatively affect their lives. They are more likely to contract STD's and have unplanned pregnancies. Drugs and alcohol go hand in hand with poor decision making, which includes having unprotected, unplanned sex. When I was drinking and using, sex was a big part of my destructive repertoire. I used people to feel better just like I used drugs. When I was drinking and using, I didn't think through consequences and only lived for instant gratification.
In teen drug treatment, it was important for me to address all of the ways I endangered myself in my addiction. I slept with people I didn't want to. I drove intoxicated, or rode in the car with people who were under the influence. I put myself in dangerous situations. Being loaded left me vulnerable to people that could hurt me or take advantage of me. I damaged my body and my self worth.
Part of my recovery process has been to learn to value myself. By respecting myself, I surround myself with people that respect me. When I am going to do anything, I think through the possible consequences, good and bad. I listen to other people’s experiences and advice. I think about how my actions affect myself and other people. Today, my life isn't about trying to find things outside of myself to feel better. It's about being a healthier person who respects herself. I have choices today. Drugs and alcohol do not govern my behaviors. When I do something today, it's because I chose it. My life is the way it is today because I made the choice to begin the recovery process and give myself a second chance.
Mischa Barton has been involuntarily hospitalized in Los Angeles, with early reports speculating that she recently felt suicidal and out of control following a cocaine binge. She was due to appear at the premier of her new movie in New York this weekend, but friends called police to her LA home after they became concerned about her behavior. Mischa has hit the tabloids a lot recently following getting kicked out of a London night club, her yo-yoing weight, and erratic behavior. She has already been arrested for DUI. Cocaine use can lead to extreme paranoia, weight loss, erratic behavior and psychosis, including suicidal ideation. I hope that Ms Barton can find some peace during this time.
When I was using, I thought that suicide was my only option. I didn’t think that it would be possible for me to get clean and have a decent life. The life I have today is beyond decent. I am free from active addiction to cocaine and I have a new life. Teen cocaine rehab gave me a chance to take a break from my toxic life and really helped me find new tools to live a better life. It was helpful for me to be removed from my using friends and to be surrounded by other recovering teens. Being in a completely recovery based environment helped me to focus solely on staying sober and getting healthy. I can’t imagine having all of my business splashed across the tabloids when I was in the pain of my addiction and early recovery. I hope that Mischa gets the help she needs and is able to find the gift of recovery that I got in teen residential drug treatment.
Last night my friend and I went to a party to celebrate our friend’s tenth anniversary in recovery. She got clean when she was fifteen in adolescent outpatient in Newport Beach and has stayed clean since. It is really inspiring to see someone get clean at the agethat we did and to actually stay clean. Sometimes it is easy for me to tell myself that I was just going through a phase and that I was as an adolescent too young to be an addict or alcoholic, but I think that since I needed all of that help at such a young age, it’s not likely that my life would have gotten better if I hadn’t gotten clean.
Getting clean young can seem like a death sentence, but seeing people who have stayed clean and had their lives improve helps me maintain hope. Sometimes people in 12 step meetings or my old friends made me feel uncomfortable about how young I was when I got clean, but since I was there to save my life, it didn’t matter what they thought. Having a strong support group and recovering friends in my age group really helped me feel like I wasn’t alone and that I was doing the right thing.
Watching my friend celebrate her tenth anniversary clean and sober reminded me of my own commitment to recovery after adolescent drug treatment. I was definitely reluctant at first, but in teen outpatient treatment in Newport Beach, I was introduced to other young people trying to turn their lives around and it started to seem like a doable thing. I love my life in sobriety today, and no one can take it away from me. I feel lucky that I got clean so young, and that I didn’t have to waste half of my life in active addiction. I have a fresh start, and a chance to tackle life with some really useful tools.
I started to use drugs because I thought that it would help me fit in with my peers. I felt so uncomfortable with myself and drugs and alcohol initially helped to numb those uncomfortable feelings. As my using progressed, the numbing effects were less pronounced and the unmanageability of my life created a need to use more and more. When I went to Visions adolescent drug rehab, I felt like I was the only person on earth who felt the way I felt. Using drugs and alcohol had created this cosmic loneliness where it felt impossible to connect with people on anything but a superficial level. As I listened to my peers in treatment, I began to hear the same things over and over: We all felt alone, disconnected, and misunderstood. It was no longer possible for me to claim that no one understood what I was going through, because I was surrounded by a house full of other teens struggling with the same feelings.
As I began to identify with my peers and with other recovering addicts and alcoholics that I heard in AA and NA meetings and panels of recovering addicts that visited us, I began to feel safe enough to let others into my life. No longer was I a lonely, misunderstood teen addict. My peers and my treatment team heard me, and suddenly my feelings were valid. When I was using I wanted to be heard. I didn’t want someone to fix me, I just wanted them to hear me. As I began to share my life with others, I began to let them love me. They believed in me and wanted to see me get clean. To them, I wasn’t a lost cause. The treatment staff absolutely believed that I could stay clean, and for that I began to believe it myself. The love and support I found in teen drug and alcohol treatment spilled over into my life when I left. Because they believed in me and gave me the tools I needed to be successful on “the outside,” I continue to be vigilant about my recovery. I know that what I have is a gift, and I will do everything in my power to cherish it. It helps to have people on your side.
Reports of Michael Jackson’s prescription drug abuse have been flooding the media. Recent articles depict a heavy addiction to painkillers and the anti-anxiety drug, Xanax. People surrounding Jackson have reported that he visited doctors in different states and had staff members fill prescriptions in their names in order to maintain his intense habit. It is a tragedy when anyone succumbs to the wrath of addiction, and the only positive thing that may come of Jackson’s death is that it has highlighted the dangers and seriousness of prescription drug abuse. What I would hope to see from the media is a more intense scrutiny of our prescription drug problem in the United States. Rather than focus on Jackson, we should focus on the problem of prescription drug abuse.
Prescription drug abuse has steadily been on the rise in the US, and it is rapidly becoming one of the most popular forms of drug abuse for teenagers as it has nearly eclipsed marijuana abuse in teens. Many studies indicate that parents are less likely to suspect that their teen is abusing pills, but more and more teens indicate that they are. Xanny-bars, bars, z bars, and white ladders are terms Visions Adolescent Drug Treatment Center commonly hears residents using to describe Xanax. Xanax is in the group of drugs called Benzodiazepines, or benzos, which are commonly prescribed to treat anxiety disorders. The scored tablets (bars) are white and the other tablets are yellow or blue. Xanax is habit forming and does cause withdrawal symptoms. Prescription drug abuse amongst teens is a very real problem. Teens often combine Xanax with other drugs to create dangerous cocktails. Teens rarely think of Xanax as a serious drug and often believe its abuse has no risks. Many people may overlook Xanax abuse but drug dependence is dangerous and harmful no matter what the substance. If you believe that your teen has a problem with Xanax or other drugs, don’t hesitate to seek help today.
At Visions Adolescent Treatment Center we've noticed the use of “club drugs” by teenagers has been on the rise. Teenagers involved with raves or other all night dance parties often take these extremely dangerous drugs thinking they are harmless and non-habit forming. Because they generally come in pill or liquid form, many of these drugs are easily hidden in pill bottles, candy containers, or eye drop containers or mouthwash or water bottles. Club drugs, or party drugs often refer to the following:
Ecstasy- (E, X, Beans, Adam, Lover’s Speed, Clarity, Hugs, X-T-C, MDMA, Candy, Thiz, Rolls) This drug is a hallucinogen and a stimulant. Users often feel a sense of extreme euphoria and energy. Chronic abuse damages users ability to think and regulate emotion. “Candyflipping” involves the combination of X and acid, or LSD. Overdose can lead to death, and the drug also impair the user’s ability to regulate body temperature and heart rate. User’s may suck on a pacifier or “binky” or suck on candy because the drug causes jaw clenching. Other signs of use include dilated (big) pupils, sleeplessness, and extreme irritability (crashing) on the day following use.
GHB- (Liquid Ecstasy, G, Georgia Home Boy, Goop) This drug causes the user to feel more relaxed, but increased amounts can lead to sleep, coma, and death. It comes in liquid form and can be consumed in water.
Ketamine- (Special K, K, Kay Jay, K Ways) Ketamine is an anesthetic used by veterinarians and causes the user to feel a sense of delirium. Taking too much causes the user to fall into a “k-hole” where they often cannot move or experience extreme confusion. It is often snorted.
Rohypnol- (Roofie, Roche, Rophies, Ruffies, Rope) More commonly known as the date rape drug, Rohypnol causes the user to suffer from memory loss, drowsiness, and dizziness or confusion. People actually abuse it though.
Teens abusing these drugs often combine them with other drugs like meth, acid, cocaine, and heroin. They may possess Tiger Balm for cramps, hospital masks lined with menthol ointment to get a “vapor rush,” baby pacifiers, lollipops, candy necklaces, fluorescent light sticks, and various containers for hiding pills. Club drugs are just as dangerous and harmful as street drugs, and teens abusing these drugs need help too.
Psychological difficulties, including confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, and paranoia -- during and sometimes weeks after taking Ecstasy (psychotic episodes have also been reported).
Physical symptoms such as muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, rapid eye movement, faintness, and chills or sweating.
Marked increase in body temperature (hyperthermia), which may further be exacerbated by the hot and crowded conditions characteristic of the rave environment. Hyperthermia can lead to liver, kidney, and cardiovascular system failure.
Increases in heart rate and blood pressure, a special risk for people with circulatory or heart disease. Other cardiac effects include arrhythmia, heart muscle damage, and reductions in heart rate and blood pressure. (Initially, Ecstasy increases heart rate and blood pressure, but following repeated use, this effect is reversed.)
Ecstasy can affect the hormone that regulates the amount of sodium in the blood, which can also cause hyponatremia (water intoxication).
Chronic use of Ecstasy has been associated with memory impairment, which may indicate damage to the parts of the brain involved in memory processing.
Sometimes a rash that looks like acne will appear on the skin which has been linked with liver damage.
A study published by the July 2009 journal, Pediatrics, has determined that teens with a fatalistic attitude are more likely to engage in risky behavior such as adolescent drug use and fighting. It’s not surprising; as an invincible teen, it’s hard to imagine how actions in your youth will affect your life in the future. (For example, sometimes I wish I could go back and punch my teenage self for dropping classes and messing up my GPA because now I actually care about going to college.) “Live fast, die young,” is an enticing motto for teens, and the inability or unwillingness to consider future consequences makes it really hard to even want to get clean. Since I didn’t think I would live past 25, I didn’t care much about how my actions would affect my future.
In adolescent drug rehab, it was still hard to develop a strong desire to get clean, but as I stuck around, that began to change. When I realized that I could be of use to someone else, I started to want to live. After I’d been in drug treatment a few weeks, a new resident arrived and was having a lot of problems adjusting. She was extremely resistant and plotted ways to escape. I knew that I had had similar problems when I first arrived in drug treatment, and seeing how ridiculous and desperate her ideas seemed, I had a bit of clarity. I didn’t want her to go out and use, so why would I want that for myself? That little realization helped me refocus my attitude in treatment. I reached out to her and tried to offer the little bit of experience I had gained in how to stay put. I realized that even though I didn’t have years of wisdom, I knew how to stay in treatment for three weeks, and that was more than she knew. That small spark of a friendship gave me a purpose that week. As time has gone on, I have more and more purpose. There are more and more people that I have connected with. Small “esteemable” acts have helped my self worth grow tremendously. As I learned that I was worthy to others, my life began to have meaning, and a fatalistic attitude seemed pretty impractical and not at all glamorous. The article points out that teens with fatalistic attitudes are like big walking red flags for more and more trouble down the road.
If your teen is engaging in self destructive behaviors like teenage drinking and drug abuse, help exists to help stop it before it’s too late. I’m so glad I got my second chance, and I hope others will too.
This weekend, as we celebrated our nation’s freedom, I chose to celebrate my own personal freedom as well- freedom from active addiction to drugs and alcohol. Adolescent Addiction continues to plague our country, and to get a second chance at life is definitely a cause to celebrate. As a teen, I struggled with drug and alcohol dependence. I didn’t think I could ever function without using drugs and alcohol. The problem was that I had ceased to function while using. My parents intervened and sent me to adolescent drug treatment. I was angry, scared, and confused, but a part of me was also hopeful. I heard from other recovering addicts and alcoholics that they had managed to find recovery from their addiction, so maybe I could too.
It has been a challenging journey, full of painful changes and growth, and wonderful achievements and successes too. If I had to describe my teen addiction in Fourth of July terms, it would be like this: My addiction was like England, taxing me without representation. I was paying a heavy price without seeing any benefits. Treatment was like the Revolutionary War. I had to fight a tough battle, but I eventually came out the victor. In order to maintain my more perfect union with myself now, I must remain vigilant and follow the same procedure that I laid out in the foundation of my recovery. I go to young peoples's AA meetings like they taught me to do in drug treatment. I use the tools I was taught, like journaling and reaching out to my support group. This weekend, when my peer group is drinking and partying, I will have a blast with my sober friends, celebrating our Independence from a life of addiction.
If your teen is seeking freedom, let this be the beginning. Contact Visions today for adolescent drug treatment.
It’s beach body season at the news stands and that can be a bit of a trigger for a person recovering from a adolescent eating disorder. I have made huge strides in the last few years since I went to treatment to deal with my eating disorder, but seeing all of those magazines promising perfect bodies or critiquing those that aren’t makes feel weird. I know now that nobody can have a perfect body, and after a few graphic design classes, I’ve learned the magic of photoshop, but being bombarded by the media to get “perfect” sometimes triggers my disease.
When I feel insecure, I have to go back to my core tools. The way I feel about myself is based on my insides- who I am- not what dress size I am. It was horrifying when I had to throw away all of my pre-treatment clothes. They were all too small! I wanted to hold onto them in case I lost the weight again, but I had to realize that was a reservation to relapse. Letting go of the clothes helped signify my continued commitment to recovery. Recovery from a eating disorder is an inside job. It has taken a long time to deal with my insecurities and need for control. Even though those feelings still arise, I don’t have to act on them. I can argue with those feelings better now. So when I see “Get Your Perfect Beach Body!” screaming at me from a newsstand, I may at first feel enticed, but then I check myself and remember that no amount of dieting and exercise would ever make me perfect, or make me feel whole. When I feel triggered, I journal, or call my sponsor, or talk to friends. I tell myself affirmations in the mirror! As cheesy as it sounds, I tell myself, “I’m enough. I’m enough,” over and over. Because I am. Recovering from an adolescent eating disorder is a difficult journey, and I couldn’t have done it without the support that I found in treatment. I had no idea how to go it alone. I couldn’t have done it alone.
If your teen is struggling with an eating disorder, don’t hesitate to contact us for adolescent eating disorder treatment in Santa Monica. Beach body season doesn’t have to mean continued self abuse. It doesn’t mean anything at all. I feel good about me today, and that’s all that matters.
Officials investigating the death of Michael Jackson will be looking into his prescription drug abuse as a possible cause of death as an accidental drug overdose . The pop icon admitted to prescription drug addiction in the 90’s and it is likely that his battles continued. Some rumors speculate that Jackson was injected with the heavy narcotic Demerol prior to suffering from cardiac arrest. Autopsy findings will be released in the near future.
Prescription drug abuse is growing rapidly in this country, with prescription drug use eclipsing marijuana use among teens. Teens are increasingly abusing stimulants like Adderall, sedatives like Xanax and Valium, and opiates like Oxycontin, that they acquire from parents’ drug cabinets, friends, and online purchasing. Most parents do not suspect that their teen is abusing prescription medication, however, over the past decade-and-a-half, teen prescription drug abuse has increased five-fold.
It makes sense. When I was using, pills seemed like a harmless thing. I ate Xanax (we called them “zanies”) and Oxycontin (“oxy”) like candy. Pills have less of a stigma attached. While my friends and I would have considered heroin or cocaine a horrible and dangerous drug to try, pills seemed easy and normal- something the girls from Sex and the City might to do relax. I had no idea I was gambling with my life the same way a junkie on the streets gambles with theirs.
Adolescent Drug Treatment helped me see teen addiction as the problem- not the particular substance I abused. I know that the prevailing attitude among teens is that pills are harmless and not nearly as dangerous as street drugs. I hope that with the insane amount of press coverage surrounding Michael Jackson’s death, more attention will be given to the seriousness of prescription drug abuse in our country. I’d rather have a better name for my generation than “Generation Rx”. We can be more than pill-popping zombies I hope. I know I can. If your teen is struggling with prescription drug abuse, help is right here.
If your teen is struggling with teen prescription drug abuse, help is right here.
Last night in Santa Monica I helped a friend of mine celebrate a year clean at an AA meeting. After leaving adolescent Drug Treatment and acquiring more clean time, I’ve had the opportunity to work with new kids at Visions as a sponsor. It’s the most fulfilling part of my week. Since someone spent time coming out there to work with me when I was a resident, it feels really good to be able to do it for someone else. Sponsorship is awesome because unlike the staff, my sponsor wasn't paid to come work with me. They were there because they wanted to do it, and that made me feel really good. Building a relationship with my sponsor also eased my transition out of drug treatment and into the world. My sponsor was my first connection to real recovery outside of treatment. Working with Visions Adolescent Treatment Center residents now reminds me of where I came from and of all of the work it takes to power through early sobriety. Working with them keeps me grounded and grateful for the program.
When the girl I used to work with at Visions celebrated a year last night, I was thrilled. It is so amazing to watch someone grow and change in such a short amount of time. I am immensely proud of her. It reminds me that no matter how I feel and what’s going on in my own life, I can have a higher purpose in life: to help other people. When I was using, I never thought of anyone but myself, so having the chance to care about other people and show up for them is the best feeling in the world. Visions Santa Monica outpatient program gave me a lot of tools to stay clean outside of treatment, one of which was access to an AA or NA sponsor. My sponsor was my lifeline when I left treatment for teens. I felt so nervous leaving the safety of treatment but my sponsor helped me get plugged right into the recovery fellowship. I am grateful to my sponsor and to Visions for helping me, and now I have a chance to help others.
VISIONS ADOLESCENT TREATMENT CENTERS Personalized programs dedicated to helping youth and their families recover from the destructive effects of substance and other behavior related problems. (866) 889-3665
