Assessing level of Addiction-Teenage Drug Addiction

This is what drug addiction can do to you if you don’t take proper assessment of addiction from childhood,teenage and adulthood

It is the joy of every parent to have their children lives a life full of peace of mind, sobriety and social stability. These are powerful ingredients that we would all want to have in our children up-bringing. However many a times this is usually not the case because of the prevalence drugs and bad influences from all manner of technological devices we have today. Because of this real obstacles in the society we live in today, it is important that we from time to time take stock of our children’s developments in life and this will be the guiding factor in this article so that you and I get to know some tips which can help us to have our children escape the scourge of addiction of whatever nature. Therefore when you notice that any negative occurrence in your children, it must be followed by an immediate assessment to establish the problem. This is very necessary because any use of psychoactive drugs is harmful to their moods and mind affects their independence in making normal and caring judgment and perception this influences their decisions to be impulsive, irresponsible and potentially harmful to themselves and the society.

This then leads us to the question what are these harm? Let us consider the following risks which parents must take keen interest in especially when the children are going through the various stages of life like adolescent:

1. Victimization from violence
2. Accidental injury
3. School failure
4. Illegal activities
5. Sexual misadventures
6. Daring risk taking
7. Suicidal despondency
8. Drug and alcohol involvement

All these and many more are possible risk that we must be keen to eliminate and I would want to suggest that if you were to start the elimination in any particular order, then start with number 8 since this is the genesis of all others. Top of FormBottom of FormAdolescence is therefore the risk process during which young people are eager and motivated socially to explore the worldly experiences and substance use only increases these normal risks. A sober path through adolescence is the safest passage of all.

When parents have suspicion that their children are using substances, they need to identify the level of use with which they are dealing so they do not over or underestimate the seriousness of the experience. If you were to overestimate the seriousness you may panic over what could be just a one-time experimental use while on the other hand to underestimate the seriousness you may deny troubling signs of increasing dependency. What would then follow can only be described in the following level:

Assessing level of Addiction-Experimental use

This is motivated by curiosity and the teenage child only makes attempt to get the feeling and satisfy their curiosity. They can explain that they are only using drugs once in a while then you must make them know that that is not just in a while but such frequency of consumption is not just experimental but recreational. Experimental use is restricted to one or two times.  Sometimes a teenager will experiment and find the experience of drug use not to be worth it and stop. This experimental use is not good and must be discouraged because the younger the age the less safe it is to the consumer. This can be dangerous to the brain of the teenager.

Young ones must take note that this is just gambling with once safety since there are not mechanisms on knowing how the brain/mind will react to the substance and cause injury to their wellbeing but subjecting themselves to unknown experiments whose results can be fatal.

Assessing level of Addiction-Recreational use

Teenagers who have made a routine in consuming their drugs are not experimenting but are recreational users. This group may be using drugs moderately meaning that such substance use does not cause any significant problem to them or others however they must be caution to take note of the content and remain within the regulated dose. Moderate means:

• That use is intentional, not automatic.
• It is a matter of choice it is not dictated by habit.
• That the choice is independently made and not dependent on socially fitting in, going along, keeping up, or competing for most use.

Second the use is monitored. Monitored use means being gradual and so your teenager maintains sufficient awareness of the effects of use on mind and body to judge when they need to have no more. Substance use takes the alcohol user, for example, from a caring (sober) to a less caring (high) to a completely care-free (drunken) state. Recreational drinkers draw a line somewhere been a caring and non-caring condition that demarcates when enough has been consumed.

They want to use within the limits of maintaining contact with the values and judgments about personal behavior that normally matter to them.  They don’t want to cross over the enough line into a significantly less caring or non-caring state where words can be spoken, decisions made, and actions taken that later sober reflection will cause them (or others) to regret.  Recreational using means maintaining sufficient presence of mind to stop when one has had enough.

Assessing level of Addiction-Excessive Use

This happens in different ways, it sometimes happens accidentally or intentionally, a teenager will get extremely drunk and wasted. It’s important for parents to determine if the excess was accidental or intentional.  Accidental excess comes as a surprise, and the effects can have a cautionary value.  Thus a teenager, who never drank hard liquor before, drinks so much so fast he bypasses feeling drunk, passes out, and is rushed to the hospital which pumps his stomach out as part of their intervention to prevent alcoholic poisoning. Coming to, the teenager reflects on the fact that he almost killed himself by accidental excess and, when making the best of a bad situation, feels disinclined to drink that much that fast again.

Anytime you have a teenager who likes to drink to get drunk, you have a problem drinker on your hands. If he or she is running with a drink to get drunk crowd, do what you can to discourage that socializing. Using or drinking to deliberate excess is a common bridge to the next level, substance abuse.

Assessing level of Addiction-Abuse

Once a teenager descends into substance abuse, discipline problems get more frequent and serious at home, and academic motivation and performance typically decline at school.

The first sign of substance abuse are: A significant loss of caring about performance, values, reputation, and relationships that previously mattered.  Now freedom from not caring has taken hold.

The second sign of drug abuse appears. Progressively bad decisions – educational, familial, and social – begin to be made.  For example, school may be avoided, telling lies become more frequently told to parents, and problems with police may happen as laws are broken out in the community.

Unfortunately, a connection between the two signs of abuse can now occur. Lack of caring encourages bad decisions, and bad decisions are dismissed by lack of caring. Now lack of caring encourages more bad decisions.  Most teenagers who reach the level of abuse do not self-correct without some outside help.  Most parents cannot effectively play a role in this assistance without getting some outside help for themselves as well. Continued substance abuse can lead to addiction.

Assessing level of Addiction-Addiction

This is the most devastating of all levels it is at this point that young people become dependent on self- destructive substances to keep going. It is important that affected individuals work round the clock to free themselves from the two elements of addiction i.e. the first is psychological whose signs include among others denial, compulsion and escape. The second is physical dependence with signs like tolerance, craving and withdrawal.

The power of addiction is often misunderstood by many including parents. Nonetheless it is at this moment that seeking for help from experts and rehabs sets in and if you find yourself in this situation of addiction then self-help, twelve-step groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous usually have a role in supporting sobriety and guiding recovery into a healthier drug-free life.

In general, where experimental, recreational, and accidental excess occurs, parents must maintain a productive and friendly two-way communication with their teenager to determine circumstances of use, choices made, effects experienced, risks taken, and what parents need to have happen now. Where intentional excess occurs, parents should get their teenager to a certified drug or alcohol counselor to assess risk of more serious substance involvement. Where abuse or addiction is evident, drug counseling or treatment is probably in order. Finally assessment alone may not be enough and so the need to seek an expert opinion on this problem of addiction. Dr. Dalal Akoury, Founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, is offering her exclusive NER Recovery Treatment to other physicians and health care professionals through training, clinical apprenticeships, webinars and seminars making her the best you can get anywhere in the globe.

Assessing level of Addiction-Teenage Drug Addiction