Adolescent Substance Abuse
Substance abuse, commonly referred to as drug abuse and alcohol abuse, has recently gained popularity amid the youth of America. This has been confirmed by SAMHSA (2003) whose survey indicated that around 2.2 million teenagers were convicted of being involved in substance abuse in 2003. Teenage is called the golden period of a person's life as this is full of excitement and energy. People are willing to experience all the good and bad things in life, and for some natural reason, bad things tend to be more attractive. Therefore, the inclination of youth towards excessive usage of drugs and alcohol is not surprising. However, the teenage period does not last long. If people continue the same activity as adults, this can ruin a person's social, academic life, putting a stop to his professional career. This makes it a critical problem that should be resolved as a priority.
The disease is not fatal. A specific treatment has been designed for teenagers that take into account their development, psychological and social requirements. The success of this treatment is dependent on the person's willingness to get rid of the calamity. Along with this, it also depends on the nature of treatment, involvement of well-known and experienced therapists and financial stability of the project.
Research Findings and Analysis
As mentioned earlier, the inclination of youth towards substance abuse is not something new, in a similar manner; it did not come as a bolt from the blue that we have been endowed with works of some of the famous authors to have a better understanding of this problem and to find an effective solution for it. Williams and Chang (2000) were amid the researchers who took an initiative to evaluate different forms of treatment available and to determine effectiveness of each treatment. Based on their study of 8 multi-program, multi-sites and 45 single programs, they identified three forms of treatment; hospital inpatient, outpatient therapy and therapeutic community programs. As their study was based on different programs, the completion of this research work was not easy. Along with a unique system for record keeping, all these programs addressed different features of substance abuse treatment. To reconcile the varied data into one reasonable conclusion was not easy. The hardships faced by author in reconciliation of data were mentioned in his research work that he stated that the topic still has room for exploitation and researchers should divert their attention towards the unanswered questions (Williams & Chang, 2000).
Despite the various hardships faced during their research, William and Chang (2000) managed to identify the prerequisites of the success of treatment. They divided the components into pre-treatment and post-treatment variables. This is because the treatment does not end with the completion of treatment sessions with therapists, a follow up with patient is necessary to ensure that the patient does not resort back to substance abuse. Pre-treatment components have been mentioned earlier and include successful completion of training sessions, involvement of experienced therapists, well designed programs that cater to all the aspects of treatment and financially stable projects to make use of advanced technology for the purpose. Post-treatment components are basically follow-up procedures and include attendance in aftercare and peer/parental social support.
"Something is better than nothing." This saying best suits the stance taken by William and Chang (2000) regarding substance abuse treatment in their research work. As treatment has certain benefits, it is preferred as opposed to not having any treatment for drug abuse. However, literature has failed to compare different treatment methods on the basis of location, passion and comparing the effect on homogeneous population with that of heterogeneous. Research also fails to recognize the effect of treatment on different individuals.
It should not be forgotten that the treatment is for the youth of America. In this young age, people are not mature enough to cope with different situations; therefore, treatment sessions should be designed in such a way that they incorporate the developmental, social and psychological requirements of teenagers. At this point, it is important to recognize the fact that all teenagers are different; therefore treatment sessions should be designed separately for each patient. Mark et al. (2009) confirms this point in his research work stating that teenagers tend to be extremists and cannot handle any situation maturely. Similarly, in this age teenagers are more likely to be attracted towards the bad or dangerous social aspect in order to be as cool as their friends in school and college. Mark et al. (2009) emphasized on the development needs of patients as this their transformation period from a kid to an adult, and this...
His article does an excellent job of discussing in comprehensible terms the recent research which has addressed the current state of knowledge about the relationship between substance abuse amongst teens and mood disorders and provides a breakdown of possible treatment options. Flaherty, L., & Flaherty, M. (2005). Adolescent psychiatry: The annals of the American society for adolescent psychiatry (Vol. 29). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Analytic Press. This resource is from a special
For some, there will be a denial and minimization of the substance habit as being inconsequential, purely recreational or extremely intermittent. This response is akin to the young adult asserting that there is no problem. For other homeless youths, their drug or alcohol habit maybe viewed as a form of survival: these drugs help these teenagers bear life on the street. In that sense the substance is attributed as
Adolescent Substance Use Screening Instruments: 10-Year Critical Review of the Research Literature Over ten million teenagers in the United States admit in a national survey that they drink alcohol, although it is illegal under the age of 21 in all states. In some studies, nearly one-quarter of school-age children both smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol. Over four thousand adolescents every day try marijuana for the first time. The dangers of use,
There were also facilities that conducted both random tests and tests based on reasonable suspicion (Drug and Alcohol Treatment in Juvenile Correctional Facilities, 2002). In addition, of the facilities that responded to the survey 17% tested residents at the time that they were admitted to the facility, and 8% of the facilities tested the juveniles when they were released (Drug and Alcohol Treatment in Juvenile Correctional Facilities, 2002). The survey
Treatment is also viewed as a tool to address an adolescent's use of one substance, whereas prevention programs address the risks of multiple substances (Sussman, 2011). Prevention programs that have provided some evidence of effectiveness include school-based educational programs and family-based programs (Sussman, 2011). Educational programs typically focus on social influences that lead to substance abuse, and work to build personal and social skills to help avoid abuse in
Interventions to Reduce Adolescent Substance Abuse The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the relevant literature to describe current government initiatives for addressing substance abuse by adolescents in the United States. An analysis of what is being done as well as what is not being done is followed by an examination of gaps in the current initiatives. In addition, a discussion concerning the health advocacy groups that
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