Browsing the archives for the Alcohol Drug Rehab Centers category
Peer pressure during the teenage years is at the top of the list of factors pushing youngsters into experimenting with drugs, according to Dr. D. Vincent Biase, former director of research and development at Daytop Village, a leading drug treatment center. But it shouldn’t be blamed for drug abuse, which is usually the result of [...]
Some drugs leave an open trail. Cigarette smoke settles in hair, in clothes, and on fingertips, where a parent can smell the evidence. Inhalants often have a peculiar odor, and the containers from which they came are easy to identify. But other drug use is harder to detect.
Parents are understandably reluctant to invade a child’s [...]
Parents try to understand today’s world through the world they experienced growing up. It won’t work. The transition from simple disciplinary problems to major police and health problem is the result not only of the passage of time but of major social upheavals.
For one thing, divorce has become a way of life, placing extra burdens [...]
But this is my house, and the bottom line is I won’t have it around.” You can use the same approach when it comes to other drugs. You have to be prepared for tension and even an angry “Well, then, I won’t visit anymore.”
If such use is unacceptable to you, then you must say so unequivocally. You can point out that it is illegal, adding, “We enjoy your visits, but not your smoking.” A woman who had smoked pot herself in the sixties put is this way to her daughter: “I can’t control what you do.
Since schools are where the kids are—or should be—most of the time, they are often the setting for the discovery of the drug problem or for conflicts because of it. Parents sometimes saddle them with both the blame and the responsibility. Yet, as an administrator points out, although “the parents think the schools should crack [...]
Many parents ask, “What should I do if my son lights up a joint while he’s visiting us?” First of all, be clear about your convictions before an incident occurs. If you’d rather your child didn’t hide the fact that he or she is using pot, make this plain.
He’ll get the message when you let him know that it’s no fun for you or anyone else to have him around when he really isn’t functioning. Be prepared for an angry response, but try not to give in. Your child must learn to suffer the full consequences of his behavior.
Some parents prepare to deal with their own children by recalling how they were treated by their parents and what their feelings were on the subject of drugs and drinking. First you can consider how they spoke to you, what they expected of you, how much they trusted you, and the degree to which you [...]
If your drug-using child comes to visit, he should be asked to leave if he’s high or drunk when he arrives. If he protests, tell him you’d like to spend time with him, but only when he is sober or more in control of himself.
You can try to hook him up with a counselor or psychologist in school or a student assistance program. Some high schools have special classes or sections for students who have been rehabilitated to provide a buffer between them and those who are still using.
On the other hand, there will be new friends who will respect him for having turned around and will not try to underline his commitment.
Crisis intervention centers are often community-based storefront facilities staffed mainly by nonprofessionals who have themselves been drug abusers. They are not likely to fall for the youngster who says, “I experimented just that one time,” or “I was keeping the stuff for a friend.” The centers provide emergency help, short-term treatment, and evaluation and referral. [...]
The child has learned to say no, but the temptation will be there, and a lot of it may come from students who will try to lure him back into the drug scene or make fun of him for having been caught or for going “straight.”
One youngster said, “It’s not as hard to go home as it is to go back to school.” He’s right, because in school, your child will once again be with the kids with whom he did drugs.
Just as colleges are different, each community has its unique characteristics. National publications may alert you to the dangers of designer drugs or homemade PCP (angel dust), and those substances may or may not be of major concern in your area. Usually a drug fad will start on one coast or the other, and then [...]
But what seems like rebellion may really be a child’s way of saying, “I don’t know who I am, but this I do know—I am not you. I’m different.” The child rejects parental attitudes and expectations on the road to developing his own ideas and personality.
Of course, it is a lot easier to bring up a child who is calm, respectful, and obedient than one who is rebellious and demanding. Although impulsivity, an “I want what I want when I want it” attitude, doesn’t cause drug abuse, it may make it more likely that drugs, which provide instant gratification, will [...]
In other cases, when the personalities of parents and children conflict, tensions rise and can set the stage for drug use. The exuberant, athletic father and the shy, book-loving son may find themselves at odds because of inborn temperamental differences.
She explained that the girl was sneaking pre-party drinks from her father’s liquor cabinet and drinking anytime she had to face a difficult social situation. Three years later, the young woman thanked her mother for engineering that visit to her first crucial AA meeting.