Troubled Teen Introduced On "The Closer"

The Closer, starring Emmy-nominated Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda, has introduced a new character this season- a troubled teen niece. Charlie (the niece)is the troubled teen who has been flown out to Los Angeles to stay with her Aunt Brenda because her parents are at their wits’ end. She has been acting out and has already gotten into trouble with drug use. Last week’s episode had Charlie receiving drugs in the mail from her friend back home. Brenda’s husband, Fritz, freaks out because a) he is an FBI agent and b) he is sober in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous and having drugs in his home is not something he will tolerate.
I am curious to see how the show will handle Charlie’s issues. As of right now, none of the characters on the show feel like they can help Charlie, which is how many parents of teen drug addicts feel. She is irritable and secretive and clearly struggling with drug abuse. Of course I’m thinking, “I know that game…send her to Visions!” It will be interesting to see if they address the issue of addiction head-on. I think it would be a great venue to promote the idea of teenage recovery and treatment. There are plenty of shows that depict troubled teens, but none that show treatment and recovery for teens. I would love to see Charlie get a chance at recovery, so that the average American might see that teen recovery is entirely plausible. If your teen is struggling with adolescent substance abuse and you feel at your wits’ end, there is help available. No one has to deal with teen addiction alone.

Article in the LA Times today (“The 30-Day Myth”) Drug Rehab

There was an excellent article in the LA Times today (“The 30-Day Myth”) which supports the idea that for lasting recovery, more treatment time is essential. The 28 day program is simply not working anymore. Research indicates that relapse rates are proportional to how long an individual has been in treatment. Many people come unwillingly into treatment, so their recovery may not even start within the first month. It may take weeks for a patient to “clear” or “detox,” which can also impede progress. These facts are what made Visions reconsider their residential policies.

Visions opened as a 30-90 day treatment program for adolescents. Over time Visions learned what this article reveals; that extended treatment ensures better outcomes in terms of relapse prevention. Currently, the minimum stay at Visions is 45 days. Addictive behaviors develop over time and so it’s no surprise that there is no quick fix in the treatment of addiction.

For more on this topic see today’s paper or follow the link:

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-addiction10-2008nov10,0,1225784.story

Marijuana Increases Risk of Depression for Teens

Parents must be alerted to the dangers of teen marijuana use. Identified as a "gateway drug" marijuana is also cited as a contributor to depression and other mental illnesses. The teen years are often characterized by moodiness and experimentation. Parents should not shrug the dangers of experimentation and be vigilant in their observations of their teen.

Warning signs include:

• excessive moodiness
• carelessness in grooming habits
• change in friends
• withdrawl from family

"Mental Health Awareness Month, shows a staggering two million teens felt depressed at some point during the past year, and depressed teens are more than twice as likely as non-depressed teens to have used marijuana during that same period."

Many teens turn to marijuana to self-medicate for feelings of depression. While the use of marijuana by teens has decreased marijuana remains the illegal drug of choice for many teens.

Although marijuana use among teens has dropped by 25 percent since 2001, more teens use marijuana than all other illicit drugs combined. The new report, "Teen Marijuana Use Worsens Depression: An Analysis of Recent Data Shows 'Self-Medicating' Could Actually Make Things Worse," shows the following:

• Teens who smoke marijuana at least once a month are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than non-users;
• Using marijuana can cause depression and other mental illnesses;
• The percentage of depressed teens is equal to the percentage of depressed adults, but depressed teens are more likely than depressed adults to use marijuana and other illicit drugs;
• Teen girls who use marijuana daily are more likely to develop depression than girls who do not use marijuana;
• Depressed teens are also more likely than non-depressed teens to engage in other risky behaviors such as daily cigarette use and heavy alcohol use.

Drug Addicts Invest In Gold

Drug addicts are famous for there poor financial decisions. Clouded by the insatiable need to use drugs, addicts tend do things, that to the normal person, would seem insane. Addicts do things like spend their rent money on drugs, thinking they will worry about rent later. They go to casinos and gamble with their entire life savings, in an attempt to make money to by drugs with. Addicts are even known for selling there cars among all their other prized possessions. Drug addicts are good at liquidating all their assets. For alot of addicts, they do not get sober until they have financially demoralized themselves.
Once they have gone to drug rehab or just gotten sober, these addicts learn a new views surrounding money. They learn how to hold get and hold a job. Addicts then learn how to properly budget there money to live. They begin to have money left over and put it into savings and begin to plan for the future. Now with the US economy and the dollar plummeting down the tubes. Foreign governments and the worlds elites are liquidating their billions in US assests and investing in a more stable market, gold. This trend is expecting to drive gold from the record breaking 900 dollars a troy ounce to an unbelievable amount of $2000 dollars a troy ounce, within the next few years. Some of the same addicts whom before, poorly invested everything they own into crack, are now making better investments, such as investing large sums of money in gold.

Celebrity Rehab

Celebrity rehab isnt only the first tv series to expose famous people and their drug abuse habits... it's the first show to exhibit a real rehab experience period. In some ways, this is a good thing that VH1 is doing. It shows that celebrities are getting sober, and it shows how real and hard this program is. Unlike Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan who have been to treatment time and time again and keep relapsing and faling into old behavior, these ceebrities seem like they have a real passion for geting sober and staying sober. The seem to want sobriety and seem to be doing for themselves, rather than for their image. Of course the process is difficult, and at times they seem as though they want to give up, but as a sober alcoholic and drug addict I remember those times too. We work through the pain, and come out victorious. Dr. Drew Pinksy (aka Dr. Drew from Loveline) has placed these celebrities at his facility in Pasadena and all clients have agreed to tape their recovery process for the world to see. This may serve as a inspiration to other addicts and alcoholics out there. If these celebrities can do it, in Hollywood no less, then for sure they can too!

Lindsey-
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The disease of addiction

The disease of addiction

When I entered drug rehab I was under the impression that addiction meant addiction to drugs or alcohol, I never could have imagined the way that the disease manifests in our lives.

In studying about the disease concept you learn that the disease of addiction is not about a particular substance, it centers in our thinking. Substances that addicts can fix on can include anything from drugs and alcohol to shopping, exercise, relationships or food, basically anything that an addict uses in order to not feel feelings and not focus on oneself.

Alcoholics Anonymous founded what they described as a “spiritual malady” or a “two fold disease: allergy of the body and obsession of the mind”. This was later coined the disease concept. A disease can be defined as a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment. This parallels the conditions of the disease of alcoholism and how it is a BIO-PSYCHO-SOCIAL disease. This means that alcoholism can be caused by heredity/ genetics (BIO), psych make-up (PSYCHO) and the environment is which one is raised (SOCIAL). The disease is treatable, but if not treated it results in jails, institutions and death.