ADDICTED CHILDREN - WHAT TO DO?

ADDICTED CHILDREN - WHAT TO DO?

 

 

It has become common to meet perfectly good parents whose teens or young adult children are severely addicted to drugs or alcohol. Part of the tragedy in this situation is the sense of helplessness and confusion overwhelming the parents.  They don't know what to do. They try different approaches but with no positive result.

 

Why is it that although most adolescent try drugs and alcohol, only a small percentage of them stay heavily addicted for years, and sometimes for life?

 

Author David Sheff ("Beautiful Boy" and "Clean"), who is one of those parents, thinks that there is already an underlying brain condition that makes those children desperately seek solace in drugs and alcohol. They self-medicate because those substances make them feel "normal". They do it not out of moral weakness, but as a result of a real physical sickness.

 

David Sheff:  Only when I realized that this is a disease, a brain disease, and my son was ill was I able to understand and also sort of look at him in a different way, with compassion instead of judgment and anger and fear.

 

He continues:  I've seen brain scans. There's so much research now that shows that people with addiction process drugs differently. Their neurological system is different. A different part of the brain is in control. And, you know, we think about addiction as a morally reprehensible choice, but addicts act crazy because, in a way, that they are.

 

David Sheff's son, who was at some point diagnosed with bipolar disorder,  described  "the first time he used drugs in high school as transformative. It wasn't so much about being high. It was about feeling OK for the first time in his life. He said that he didn't know that it was possible to feel an absence of the intense anxiety that he felt, the intense depression. So when he got high, it was just life-changing".

 

David Sheff advises parents not to wait for their children to hit rock bottom, because that could be fatal.  He urges them to seek medical help for their children as soon as possible, because the likelihood that there is an underlying mental problem behind their addiction is quite high.

Summary of the NPR interview and audio:  http://www.npr.org/2013/04/03/175939127/a-father-tells-the-story-of-his-sons-struggle-to-stay-clean
Full transcript:  http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=175939127

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Having said that, there needs to be a note of caution regarding psych medication for children or anyone else.  This is another layer of concern for parents.  Much psych medication prescribed for youngsters has dangerous side effects.   Experts believe it can lead some patients to suicide and even violence against others.  Just about all young people involved in mass shootings were being psych medicated by their physicians.  If treated, patients need to be closely monitored by their families and physicians for the duration of the treatment.  Don't ever trust pharmaceuticals or physicians blindly.

Other articles:

Are Psych Drugs to blame for high Rates of  Teen Suicide?

"One in 25 teenagers in the United States attempts to commit suicide, a fact that is increasingly being blamed on psychotropic drugs. .... 55-77 percent of teens who attempted suicide had already been labeled with a diagnosis and were under treatment ....it's likely the treatment itself is fueling this epidemic .....Such drugs are being blamed for contributing to, if not causing outright, a spate of mass murders over the past few years."

http://www.naturalnews.com/039222_psych_drugs_suicide_teenagers.html

25 Disturbing Facts about Psych Drugs - Soldiers and Suicides
http://www.naturalnews.com/039473_psychiatric_drugs_soldiers_suicides.html