California Teen Drug Rehab

According to a study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse, 36 percent of Southern California high school students surveyed thought they were at risk for drug abuse or alcohol addiction. At first glance, this statistic might be alarming. But upon closer examination, there is a bit of a silver lining included in this study. Although it might be true that a lot of teens are experimenting with drugs, many of these teens also know that their experimentation is dangerous and might require them to need addiction help down the line. As the researchers point out, “A teenager’s awareness that he or she is becoming a drug addict or alcoholic is likely to lead that youth to try to get treatment.”

Treating drug addiction in adolescence, whether in California or anywhere else in the country, means addressing both the chemical bonds that link the teen to drug addiction and amending the behaviors that surround that drug addiction. By aggressively attacking the addiction on multiple fronts, the teen can heal and can go on to a happy and healthy adulthood.

The Adolescent Brain

In order to understand teen drug rehabilitation programs, it’s best to take a step back and understand the adolescent brain. The changes that are taking place in the brain during adolescence make addiction all the more likely, and those changes must also be addressed in any effective program provided to that teen.

During adolescence, the part of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex is growing and changing. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), this part of the brain is responsible for:

• Assessing situations
• Making decisions
• Controlling emotions
• Reigning in desires

In addition, during adolescence, a teen is exposed to a large degree of pressure from family, teachers and peers. If teens are provided with the opportunity to take drugs by a member of their peer group, and they’re told that the drugs they take can reduce pressure and help them feel good, they may not have the decision-making capability to realize that the drugs might also impact their long-term mental and physical health. Their ability to see long-term consequences is severely impaired, and they may make terrible decisions as a result.

Taking drugs may also reduce the brain’s ability to develop and make connections. The drugs can cause chemical changes, increasing impulsivity and making it more likely that the teen will make yet more terrible decisions involving drug use and long-term health. Soon, the teen has developed behaviors that support this long-term drug use. The chemical drive to use drugs is present, and the habits and behaviors that support drug use are also present. And, the teen’s brain may not have the ability to heal without help.

The Role of Medications

All teens who are recovering from drug addictions may need medications during the early stages of recovery. These medications can ease withdrawal symptoms, making it easier for the teen to sleep, eat and think clearly. While it’s certainly true that some teens can endure detoxification without any medications whatsoever, not all teens are able to do this. Medications can certainly help to ease pain for these teens.

In addition, some addictions are so strong that medications form the backbone of long-term therapy. Teens who abuse opiates like heroin or prescription painkillers develop a chemical dependency on the drugs. Their bodies consider the presence of these drugs to be natural and normal, and when the drugs are removed, the teen can feel a variety of unpleasant symptoms for an extended period of time that can make a relapse to drug use likely. Medications can be used to help ease the pain and help the teen focus on recovery. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the medication buprenorphine is considered an effective treatment for these teen addicts in recovery. Buprenorphine works on the same opiate receptors, allowing the teen to feel few or no withdrawal symptoms, and when the teen is ready to transition away from buprenorphine, the recovery process is relatively swift.

Some doctors also use the medication naloxone with adolescent addicts. As mentioned, teens have an inability to determine long-term consequences and make good decisions. As a result, even when they’re enrolled in recovery programs, they may be unable to understand why experimenting with drugs would be a terrible idea, they may try taking the drug again due to pressure from friends and they may relapse into compulsive drug use. Naloxone works by rendering inert any opiate an addict takes in. Therefore, if the teen relapses into drug use, the naloxone will prevent the illicit drug from working. In other words, naloxone tends to break the link between drug use and reward, and this can be quite helpful in breaking the addiction cycle in some teens.

Types of Therapy

With the chemical link broken, the teen can then move forward to break the habits that support the drug addiction. Therapy sessions with a licensed counselor can be invaluable in this regard. Here, the teen learns how to think about actions before performing them, and the teen may have the opportunity to work through prior trauma that has led to addiction.

According to the NIDA, addiction therapy can take many forms. Some therapists use one technique at the beginning of therapy and then employ different strategies near the end of the therapy process, when the teen has made great strides toward healing. These are just four of the many therapy types employed in teen recovery programs:

• Motivational interviewing. Some teens remain unconvinced that they need help for their addiction problem. By using this technique, therapists help teens understand why change is needed, and they motivate teens to make those changes and commit to recovery.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Therapists who use this model attempt to demonstrate that thoughts influence behavior. Teens are taught to recognize and avoid the situations associated with relapse, and they use the power of positive thinking to make good choices and reduce negative self-talk.
• Motivational incentives. Teens who can demonstrate their commitment to therapy through clean urine samples are provided with prizes.
• Group therapy. Teens meet with their peers, learning from one another and gaining hope as they watch former members “graduate” and move on to drug-free lives.

The Role of the Family

Teens are fond of saying that they don’t care what their family members think or feel, but the fact remains that teens are deeply impacted by their families. They look to their family for support and guidance, and this deep connectedness can be a powerful tool put to good use in an addiction therapy program. For example, according to a study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, teens who participated in addiction programs that included their family members tended to complete the programs at higher rates than did teens whose families were not included. In other words, by including the family in therapy, the teens were more motivated to stay involved and complete treatment. It can be a powerful method to motivate teens to get the help they need.

In some cases, including the family in treatment can be as simple as asking the parent to take the child to all treatment sessions and stay involved with the teen as he or she begins to recover. In other cases, the family involvement goes deeper and the family participates in therapy sessions alongside the teen. The entire family strengthens bonds, learns to work together and actively focuses on issues that stand in the way of a full recovery for the teen. For teens who have difficulty with their family members, this can be transformative help.

Modes of Care

Teens with strong connections to family and homes that can support a sober lifestyle may benefit from living at home while they undergo addiction treatment. As mentioned, teens rely on their families for emotional support and leadership, and some teens may find the idea of leaving this support system behind to be too difficult to contemplate. In fact, some teens may even resist the idea of leaving the home at all, and some therapists respond by performing therapy in the teen’s home. According to a study published in Alcohol Treatment Quarterly, home-based treatments may be particularly effective for troubled teens with a tendency to run away. By keeping the therapy sessions close to home, the teens were less likely to drop out of programs than they were if they were forced to participate in sessions that took place in an office.

On the other side of the spectrum, some teens really do need to step away from their lives and their homes in order to get the help they need for addiction. They may have poor social connections with their families, and those issues must be resolved before the teen can live in that home comfortably. Or, the teens may have friends who abuse drugs, and they must escape from those friends and build up skills so they can reduce the peer pressure they feel from these friends. In many instances, inpatient care is preferred simply because the teen can wholly focus on addiction treatment, free from outside distractions.

At Newport Academy, we offer drug and alcohol rehabilitation services at our beautiful facility in California. We would love to talk with you about the help that we can provide to your teen. Our help is science based, and it works. Please contact us today to find out more.