Troubled Teens Resources

Though there are reports that teens are doing less illegal drugs, the same reports indicate that teens’ have simply replaced them with illegal prescription drugs. Teen age drug abuse remains an ongoing challenge to parents and communities.

Drugs, of course, introduce a host of other possible dire consequences. The teen’s education is trashed, sexual promiscuity, long term health problems and emotional trauma. There is no cease fire or treaties with narcotics. At least not in the foreseeable future.

More than ever, parents need facts regarding exposure to addictive drugs faced by their children, according to ASAP (Adolescent Substance Abuse Program). The program offers the following data:

• Teenagers who drink or use drugs are much more likely to be sexually active, starting sexual intercourse as early as middle school.
• Teens who start drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to be become alcohol dependent than those who begin drinking at the legal age of 21.
• As the use of marijuana among young people has steadily increased, the perceived risk of marijuana use has decreased.
• The number one killer of teens is alcohol-related car crashes.
• The most important factor in protecting children from drug abuse is parents, but children spend more time watching TV than they spend interacting with their parents.

(source)

The world of today’s adolescents isn’t all about teen age drug abuse. A frustrated teen helps put another perspective out there afterbeing disappointed in discovering that a search for teen topics produced some unpleasant Google results.

It seems that Google associates the word ‘teenager’ most often with; addiction, drugs, alcohol, binge drinking, sex and violence. You know, the usual array of topics covered here. Because they do reflect an unhappy reality. But is also true that teens really are most associated with negatives, not only in what the press chooses to cover, but in the way that Hollywood chooses to portray them.

In order to set the record straight, the young writer offers the following statistics, and also asks that we give teenagers “a chance. Listen to our half of the story. You never know; we just might surprise you.”

“According to Josh McDowell and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

• “43 percent (of teenagers) talk to family or friends about religious matters in a typical day, (and) 41 percent talk to family or friends about politics in a typical day.” (1998)

• “70 percent of teens have daily conversations with their mothers about an important issue in their life.” (1998)

• “More than 90 percent of young people (16-19-year-olds) are either enrolled in school or employed, and 27 percent are both enrolled in school and employed.” (2003)

• “Teens describe themselves as: happy (92 percent); responsible (91 percent); self reliant (86 percent); optimistic about my future (82 percent); very intelligent (79 percent); and physically attractive (74 percent).”
(source)

Teen age drug abuse is fought on different battlegrounds with different weapons by all kinds of different warriors. By far the most passionate are those who have lost a loved one to drug abuse. Second to them are those former addicts who have beaten back their demons and want to help other addicts in their fight. When that former addict is a well known rock star, troubled teens tend to listen.

Alice Cooper is one such well known name and now comes Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx and his new released chronicle about the horrors of his life as a heroin addict,’The Heroin Diaries, a Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star.’

Part visceral work of art, part howl of anguish and pain, the book chronicles the life and technical death (Sixx actually overdosed and was pronounced dead twice) of a guy who supposedly had it all and did his best every day to destroy it and the talent that brought it to him.

“It was important to show it all,” Sixx said. “I was legally declared dead from an overdose and instead of learning from it I lived to do it again. That’s how sick I was. It’s not cool. It’s not being a rock star. It’s being an addict.”
[…]
“I wanted to do everything I could to get this story out to people, whether it’s to read the book or listen to the music,” Sixx said. “I was asleep and in pain for so long. Now I’m truly awake and it feels amazing and I want people to hear that through whatever medium it takes.”
(source)

Instead of the usual tales of teen age drug abuse, it’s nice to divert attention to some positive teen items for a change. Not every teen is a candidate for troubled teen boarding schools. A survey conducted by The Associated Press and MTV on what makes teens happy produced some interesting and reassuring results.

It seems that family and parents are the primary contributors to a teen’s sense of well being and happiness.

“They’re my foundation,” says Kristiana St. John, 17, a high-school student from Queens in New York. “My mom tells me that even if I do something stupid, she’s still going to love me no matter what. Just knowing that makes me feel very happy and blessed.”

Another result that seems to contradict prevailing wisdom about teens is that money isn’t a big factor in their sense of contentment.

“Money may make the world go around, but when asked what one thing makes them happiest, almost nobody in the poll mentioned money or anything material. Still, money does play a role in happiness.

Those who can’t afford to buy many of the things they want are less happy with life in general. Just under half of young people think they’d be happier if they had more money, while the same percentage (49 percent) say they’d be just as happy.”

And oddly enough, 92% of the 1,280 teens surveyed definitely intend to be married and have a family. I imagine this remark would put some feminists in a tither.

“I don’t want to be one of those career businesswomen who just doesn’t ever settle down,” says St. John, the New York high-school student.”

(source)

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder is often associated with other disorders. Teens diagnosed with ADHD are also often experiencing depression or extreme anxiety. That is one reason why early diagnosis is important. Teen age drug abuse is often a concern for the parent who doesn’t wish to medicate their teen. But, by the same token, an undiagnosed ADHD teen, in attempting to diminish their anxiety or blow off their depression, often starts to self-medicate on their own.

The newest reports suggest that along with anxiety and depression may come a more increased risk for bulimia and anorexia.

“Results showed that girls with ADHD were 3.6 times more likely than girls without ADHD to develop eating disorders. Also, girls with both ADHD and an eating disorder were more likely than girls who only had ADHD to experience depression, anxiety, and disruptive behavior disorder.

They concluded that ADHD increases the risk of developing an eating disorder significantly.

This research could have an influence on the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in young girls. Because these girls are so much more likely to develop an eating disorder, it may be essential that girls with ADHD be screened regularly for eating disorders or unhealthy eating attitudes.

With eating disorders, prevention is often much more effective than treatment after the fact. If ADHD is a risk factor for an eating disorder, doctors have one more tool for detecting and preventing eating disorders early, making recovery much more likely.”

(Source)

Family dinner has become an anachronism. Who in the world has the time to make a family dinner, let alone gather the entire tribe around the table at one time? But then, who has the heart and time to deal with the tragedies that ensue when a family has no traditions, no basis for connection, other than that they live in the same house and share the same last name.

Who has time for troubled teenagers, bad grades and
teen age drug abuse? If the “family dinner” has been proven to be a tool in the chest used in teen crisis intervention, than it certainly doesn’t hurt to give it a try.

” The tragedy of a child’s substance abuse can strike any family; there are no silver bullets, but one factor that does more to reduce teens’ substance abuse risk than almost any other is parental engagement, and one of the simplest and most effective ways for parents to be engaged in their teens’ lives is by having frequent family dinners.

This nation’s drug problem is all about kids. A child who gets through age 21 without smoking, abusing alcohol or using illegal drugs is virtually certain never to do so. The CASA survey and 12 years of my life devoted to understanding this problem lead me to this bottom line: America’s drug problem is not going to be solved in court rooms, legislative hearing rooms or classrooms, by judges, politicians or teachers. It will be solved in living rooms and dining rooms and across kitchen tables–by parents and families.”

(Source)
(H/T: Ann Kroeker)

It isn’t the dinner folks, it’s the connection, it’s the communication, it’s the heart of the family staying healthy and teenagers observing a model of the family that works. The link above will give you the data to support the facts.

Jane Close Conoley talks about the toxins in our environment that go a very long way towards contributing to a host of teenage ills, including teen age drug abuse and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.However, besides too much junk food, the toxins are mental and behavioral in nature and are within the parents’ power to eradicate - if only they had the will.

Methods to eradicate mental and behavioral pollutants from teens at risk, however, require a parent to make the choice to be present and active in the teen’s life and to also make their authority something to be reckoned with. Take one of the toxins the writer says needs cleaning up - communication.

“Bad communication: Any trip to a store, beach, or playground will provide a listener with many examples of parents saying threatening, demeaning, or ambiguous statements to children. Reciprocally, these same trips often expose children saying sarcastic, challenging, and disrespectful comments to their parents with no consequence. Many parents seem to have lost the will or confidence to say yes or no and mean it. They resort to threats and promises to cajole obedience and they almost never follow through on either.”

(Source)

Who could disagree? Parents can’t expect respect if they don’t render it and don’t teach it. When parents moan about the time their teen is online or in front of the 52′ screen, you almost want to shake them and shout “TURN IT OFF”. What happened to a parent assuming their role as commander-in-chief? Since when do you negotiate with a teen over critical issues? When are you going to stop? Read more on combating behavioral toxins at the link above.