Teen Substance Abuse

Teen Substance Abuse: Never Too Young To Become Addicted

Vista Academy ONLY works with teens and adolescents struggling with substance abuse and other co-occurring disorders.

There is a high likelihood that your teen will be exposed to drugs and alcohol, and according to drug statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse there is a good chance that your teen will try drugs. Teens as young as 13 have often already tried drugs as powerful as cocaine. Teens might tell themselves they will only try a drug once, but many teens find themselves under constant peer pressure to continue to experiment with drugs and “join the party.”

Most teens don’t start using drugs expecting to develop a substance abuse problem, and while most teens probably see their drug use as a casual way to have fun, there are negative effects that are a result of this use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs. The biggest consequence to casual drug use is that it increases the chances of addiction. Very few addicts recognize when they have crossed the line from casual use to addiction.

Most teens don’t think that they will become addicted, and therefore simply use drugs or alcohol to have a good time and be more like their friends. When teens become addicted they can lose friends, develop health problems, decline in academic achievement, experience memory loss, lose motivation, and alienate their family and friends with their negative behaviors and often unpredictable emotional swings. If you are a parent who is concerned about your teen, any of these can be signs of drug and alcohol use.

Abuse of drugs and alcohol can also change friendships; as teens begin to move away from old friends who don’t approve of their drug use and begin to associate with fellow drug users who will encourage and enable drug use. Parents should be very concerned when teens dump one group of friends for another, especially if they are secretive about the new peer group.

Teen Substance Abuse Treatment at Vista Academy

Vista Academy helps adolescents to overcome their addictions, and helps rejuvenate them with the motivation to become a successful student. Many young drug and alcohol addicts are very intelligent, but they lack in a motivation to succeed in school. Vista Academy provides resources that no other drug rehabs dealing with young adults is able to provide, on-site college classes from an accredited university as well as high school completion programs.

Drug abuse has consistently increased for adolescents over the past five years. The statistics say that by the time a student finishes high school 65 percent of American children have drank alcohol in the past year, and 42 percent have drank in the last month. 35 percent of high school seniors have smoked marijuana in the past year, and 22 percent of them have smoked in the past month.

School helps with addiction treatment by building confidence, providing students with tangible results, allowing them to move forward while in treatment, it can provide a blueprint for what the rest of their life, and helps teach students how to continue to be productive while coping with obstacles that life presents.

Types of Substance Abuse Treatment offered at Vista Academy

1. 12 Step Model (Disease Model) – The 12 step model of recovery is used by a variety of different 12 Step Fellowships. The largest is Alcoholics Anonymous. It focuses on addiction treatment through acceptance of powerlessness over drugs or alcohol, adapting a new code of ethics, examining past errors, making amends for past wrong doings, and continuing to help others.
2. Client Centered Approach - Client Centered psychotherapy was developed by the famous American Psychologist Carl Rogers. The approach focuses on the belief that every person has the ability to change within themselves. – “ Rogers would relay what a person was expressing to him with a more empathetic tone, and let them amend their own statement.
3. Relapse Prevention - Relapse Prevention helps alcoholics and addicts focus on the places, people, things, and situations, often referred to as triggers, that can cause them to want to use drugs and alcohol. It then helps them develop healthy ways to replace using to cope with triggers. The triggers can, also, provide an avenue for conversation about many underlying causes to drug and alcohol abuse.
4. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – Cognitive Behavioral Therapies have proven very successful in the treatment of addiction. They combine both cognitive and behavioral therapies, and have been in use for over fifty years. The goal of the therapy relies on being more in the moment. It helps both with the mindfulness of clients, cognitive, along with their actions, behavior.