Troubled Teens Resources

If you overhear one of your teens talking about some good “skunk”, they were not referring to the animal of that name. An obstacle that those who fight against teenage drug abuse must continually overcome is the notion that marijuana is a harmless recreational drug, without any lasting ill side effects. However, if you read about troubled teens and drugs a good deal, you’ll have noticed more and more mention of reports surfacing in Great Britain that suggest otherwise. Potent weed is referred to as “skunk” and it isn’t your father’s marijuana anymore.

“The devastating effects of skunk cannabis on the nation’s mental health are revealed here for the first time, showing where the drug has hit hardest around the country.

Some areas have suffered a tenfold increase in people mentally ill from using the drug.

Nationally, skunk smokers are ending up ill in hospital in record numbers, with admissions soaring 73 per cent. The number of adults recorded as suffering mental illness as a result of cannabis use has risen sharply from 430 in 1996 to 743 in 2006.

The government data shows how the damaging effects of the drug have swept across England…as the debate over the drug’s dangers continues, figures released by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Abuse (NTA) show that more than 24,500 people are in drug treatment programmes for cannabis – the highest ever.

It is the most commonly misused drug by children, accounting for 75 per cent of those requiring treatment. That’s 11,582 under-18s – more than double those in treatment for cannabis abuse in 2005.

And more adults (13,087) are in drug treatment programmes for cannabis abuse than for crack or cocaine.”
(source)

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder can be handled by a variety of methods. With more and more parents becoming displeased with dispensing drugs to their put of control teens, a variety of new programs have started emerging with an emphasis on behavior modification, nature and, gaining in attention, nutritional solutions.

“The quality of food we eat (or lack thereof) has a profound affect on Attention Deficit Disorder and ADHD. For many people, nutrition alone can effectively work as an ADHD alternative treatment.

A growing body of research points to nutritional deficiencies - especially with essential fatty acids and amino acids - as a contributing factor of Attention Deficit Disorder and learning deficiencies.”

Studies consistently indicate that troubled teenagers treated with Ritalin are still at high risk for teen age drug abuse and severe behavioral problems. The arguments for controlling ADHD by nutrition assert that, though not all teens respond, a sufficient number report great success, justifying that the nutritional approach be more widely encouraged.

“Fatty acids are used to make brain and nerve tissue in the body and are crucial for proper growth, mental function, the immune system and brain development. The body cannot produce the two fatty acids families, Omega-3 and Omega-6, on its own and therefore must receive these key Attention Deficit Disorder ADHD nutrition ingredients through diet and supplementation.

Although the typical Western diet is high in the Omega-6 family of fatty acids (found in corn, sunflower, canola and safflower oil, margarine, vegetable oil and shortening), most Americans young and old are highly deficient in Omega-3.”

(Source)

Teens at risk need to quit listening to rap. It is amazing that such guttural language and images are foisted on America’s youth with impunity. Indeed, millions of dollars are earned by artists who are proud of their criminal backgrounds, who write lyrics that perpetuate racism and teen age drug abuse and malign women at every possible opportunity.

Parents and responsible leaders are starting to make an effort to thwart the influence of this unfortunate musical genre. More and more studies reveal alarming findings, indicating that the troubled teenagers who listen to rap are setting themselves up for a fall.

“Teens who spend more time watching the sex and violence depicted in the “reel” life of “gangsta” rap music videos are more likely to practice these behaviors in real life, suggests one of the first studies to specifically explore how rap videos influence emotional and physical health.
[..]
Over the course of the one-year study, they were:

• Three times more likely to hit a teacher
• Over 2.5 times more likely to get arrested
• Twice as likely to have multiple sexual partners
• 1.5 times more likely to get a sexually transmitted disease, use drugs, or drink alcohol.

(Source)

Each generation has listened to music that was considered to be destructive at the time and similar warnings were issued. It can be suggested that the parents of today’s teens, as frequently evident in the boomer generations’ surfeit of dysfunctional parents, were also led astray by their generation’s musical influences. The jury that will decide these questions with any objectivity will be far in the future, when the final price that the 60’s “cultural revolution’s” cost America will have been calculated.

Meanwhile, instead of rockers, rappers are busy ruining a new generation.

Troubled teenagers inspire differing schools of thought when considering what is the most effective ways for educators to circumvent teen age drug abuse, gang participation,irresponsible and destructive behavior. One side advocates a type of coddling approach, positioning out-of-control teens as victims who needs to be understood, not disciplined or punished. The other side advocates for accountability,responsibility,excellence and the discipline required to achieve success in all of those categories.

These two disparate approaches to youth is amply demonstrated in this debate (linked below) between two teachers. DO follow the link and read a very well thought out rebuttal from a teacher advocating education as a discipline to the argument of a teacher who sees schools as a type of nanny. An excerpt of the former view follows.

It’s a tad long for a post but it speaks to the notion that public schools are for education, not rehabilitation and that teachers are to teach, not provide therapy.

“It is precisely a teacher’s love of his subject and his or her earnest enthusiasm, dedication and skill in passing on his or her knowledge of it that is The Life Lesson we take from education.

Mr. Davis: the gruff biology teacher who discerned my interest in biology and spent time teaching me how to set up an aquarium and what to do when my fish had little fishies. He was a biology teacher. He taught biology. I learned about biology from him. We didn’t talk about who he was sleeping with at the time or what he ate for breakfast on any given day.

We were bound by our curiosity, by my desire to learn what he could teach me, and his to teach what he knew. That process, and its outcome, is powerful, Coach. I think–I hope–you know that. When an adult takes the time to share his knowledge with a child who is receptive, what he is showing is respect. What the child learns from this is that when he gives respect, he gets it, and the form that respect takes is sacred: it’s the passing on of knowledge.

I don’t really know what you think is going on when you talk about teaching, Coach, but that’s what I think.”

(Source)

Troubled teenagers surely do not need any encouragement from big corporations to experiment with alcohol. Teen age drug abuse is difficult enough to prevent without greasing the tracks towards addiction with attractive packaging and seductive advertising on easily available alcohol products.

Parents have been getting upset about outfits like Budweiser offering products that certainly seem to target teens. (We wrote about it here.) Whether that was their intent - which they deny - or not is irrelevant. Teens certainly are the audience such advertising and packaging attracts.

Upset parents, however, can obtain some satisfaction from the results of their widespread protest.

“Anheuser-Busch’s recent decision to pull its fruity Spykes drink mixers from the market represents the latest in a series of significant victories by the addiction field in confronting what advocates consider irresponsible marketing by big corporations.”

Parents efforts to combat the media’s assault on their target demographic have produced results in other arenas as well.

“The campaign, launched around the Christmas holidays, resulted in retailers like Target, Kohl’s, and Linens n’ Things halting sales of these games as well as another called “Drinko,” an alcohol-fueled version of TV’s “Plinko.” The Oregon Partnership also spearheaded a campaign to get beer-related t-shirts pulled from the shelves of Macy’s stores last October.”

(source)

Do not ever hesitate to let your feelings and objections be known to those companies and advertisers who seem to have little hesitation targeting their alcohol and lifestyle ads at teens.

Schools for troubled teens seem like a throwback to the 18th century for some out-of-control teens. Especially for those teens who are addicted. No, we are not talking about teen age drug abuse and addictions. Add internet addiction to your lexicon of destructive habits that you do not want your teen to acquire.

These kids need to be wired up, connected, plugged-in, online. It is the air that they breathe and, for some, the only type of connection that they have with anyone, ever. In the real world,these are the teens who feel inept, clumsy and despised by their peers and family. They are alienated from everyone, except for those connections, for good or ill, that they make online.

Military schools, boarding schools - none of them allow the internet addicted teen to take refuge in a virtual world 24/7. Use of the internet is considered a privelege. For some kids those rules force them to deal with the social and relationship issues that they fear.

But it is not all on the troubled teen. Parents, as usual play a pivotal and primary role. When the writer, linked below, asked high school students what issues were most important to them, their number one answer was the relationship, or lack thereof, that they had with their parents.

“Independent of the depressing effects of excessive Internet use, the most devastating impact of Internet addiction may be the decreased amount of quality time teenagers have with their parents. Just like other addictions, the Internet addict probably suffers from feelings of emotional and physical isolation from his or friends and family and spends little time involved in healthy relationships which are the basis for positive emotional development.”

(source)

Read the link above for an instructive look at internet addiction and the importance of having your teen connect with you, not the internet.

Teens at risk benefit immensely from participation in sports. The discipline learned while training as an athlete can be extrapolated to all areas of a teen’s life and often goes a long way towards helping a teen make good choices. Unfortunately, teen age drug abuse can be found in the gym also.

Karen’s son kept nagging his mom to change his gym membership. They had joined a small local gym on a family plan that everyone in the family, except Tim, neglected to use. He’d always been so intent on his weight training that Karen was baffled when he quit going as often and wanted to change to a new facility.

Probing finally brought out his story. Karen explained.

“It seems there are a lot of kids his age shooting steroids. It made him very nervous to be around it and it actually made him pretty angry and discouraged. He’s saying what’s the point of working out hard and excelling at football on his own speed when so many of the kids he’s competing with are on something.”

Karen actually contacted the gym owner who claimed to be unaware of steroids being quietly encouraged by his trainers but Tim just laughed when he heard that.

“What do you expect him to say? I betcha if I go back in a month it will be the same kids and the same trainers.”.

Fortunately Tim is staying on top of his training, but the family opted to turn part of their basement into a workout room. Now everyone is working out and Tim vows to start a anti-steroid campaign with a few like minded teens in school next year.

To learn more about steroid abuse, visit The National Institute on Drug Abuse for symptoms and ill effects.

Teens at risk for teen age drug abuse problems, to some extent, can direct some stark criticism at adults. In a world where there is a pill touted for any ailment or disorder, imaginary or not, how are teens supposed to take seriously the constant imprecations to be drug free?

That adults tend to speak “out of both sides of their mouth” is brought home with this article out of China.

“Some stressed out parents in the Chinese financial hub of Shanghai have been searching for a prescription stimulant to give their children ahead of this week’s national college exams, the Beijing News said on Tuesday.

Their target is Ritalin, a drug used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) containing the active ingredient methylphenidate hydrochloride.”

Wow. That certainly sends a great message. The direct opposite message that a teen needs to hear. A teenager needs to realize the infinite capacity of the human mind to excel and to suggest that an exam, certainly one of the minor challenges in the whole of a person’s life - can’t be mastered without an outside stimulus is pathetic.
Even more pathetic are the unethical means parents are using to obtain the Ritalin.

“Some parents were begging people like “Sun”, whose son suffers from ADHD, to get the amphetamine-like stimulant from doctors, the newspaper said.

“I was puzzled why they needed the drug and only later understood that it was for their children preparing for the exams,” Sun was quoted as saying.

“I went to the hospital four times in the past month and every time I had to cheat the doctor by saying that I had lost the previous dose accidentally.”
(Source)

This is not the use to which these drugs were intended and parents should be faced with the consequences of getting drugs by fraudulent means, just as we demand that teenagers face the consequences of their actions. I repeat, this is pathetic.

Attention Deficit Disorder always gets a bad rap. That is probably not conducive to overcoming it. When only emphasizing all the myriad problems attending an ADD diagnosis, we fail to see how we can bend ADD to work for us. The troubled teen indeed seems always to have this disorder, and yes, that does often crescendo into drinking, dangerous behavior and teen age drug abuse. But, if it were managed well from the beginning, it also has the potential to be equally empowering.

As with all conditions, a constellation of underlying factors determine the severity or disruptiveness of ADD, but even so, the following 5 pointers by Jennifer Koretsky are worth noting. The remaining 5 points can be read by following the link below.

1. Compassion
People with ADD have a tremendous power to connect with other people. But it goes a step further than that. We also have an advanced ability to empathize with others, and to see many different perspectives.

2. Creativity
I’ve never met an ADDer who wasn’t creative! Writers, painters, musicians, film makers, designers, sculptors, comedians - the list goes on! Artistic talents are abundant. Composers Mozart and Beethoven are believed to have had ADD.

3. Drive
When an ADDer is bored with a task, completing it can seem like torture. But give an ADDer an interesting project to work on and watch out! When we want to succeed, and we have the necessary tools to do so, there is no stopping us!

4. Problem Solving Ability
ADDers thrive on solving problems and puzzles. Give us an interesting problem to solve and we won’t be able to drop it until we’ve found the solution! Important historical inventors such as Thomas Edison and Thomas Jefferson are believed to have had ADD.
(source)

A friend of mine, a personal trainer, recalls resigning a job at a local gym because of his protest over the flagrant disregard that the gym owners and trainers had for obvious steroid use by teen members. This was after the gym had already lost a trainer - only thirty years old - to a heart attack that was later attributed to his steroid use.

Rather than endure the indifference of trainers and local law enforcement, he began his own private coaching business, hoping to influence as many teens as he could to keep their sports pursuits untainted and drug free.

Teen age drug abuse use to be what playing sports helped a teen avoid. Now, unfortunately, like a nefarious stealth agent, steroids are undermining the health of thousands of teen athletes.

“It was riveting, every moment of it. It began with a photo of this clean-cut kid and a brief account of what he had achieved in sports and in school, a kid well-liked and easygoing. It ended with descriptions of a son given to fits of rage, a muscled-up bully with self-esteem issues, all hidden from those who loved him most by a sunny veneer.

A roomful of reporters listened to Don Hooton describe the steroid use that eventually led to his son Taylor’s suicide by hanging.
[..]
Sports play an important role in the physical and mental development of young people, and provide young people with valuable lessons about teamwork, goal-setting, discipline, and the value of hard work. The use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs directly undermines these benefits.”

(Source)