Teen Recovery

There truly not many places teens can go to get recovery. Most children’s hospitals do not have these programs. Also, psychiatry departments and the local state facilities do not have the resources to battle this increasing problem of teen addiction and substance abuse. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the drug overdose problem has become the biggest killer of teens ages 12 to 19 years old.

There are many social reasons teens fall from recovery. Many will receive treatment and become heathy from addiction, but studies have shown that within the first one to four months after an addict begins the treatment, there is a 50 to 90 percent relapse rate. Most teens will return back to their enabling families, start hanging out with the same old friends, or continue to go to the same school where the influences are too hard for their young minds to handle.

Cycle of Addiction

Just like adults, teens need a plan of attack. There are many reasons why a person falls back into the cycle of addiction. For instance, certain families cannot afford a change in schools for the addict or both parents may have to work to support the family and cannot give the teen the proper attention after treatment. There might even be a problem in the house with one of the parents being an alcoholic, and parents do not recognize they might be the reason the teen has a problem.

Finding a rehabilitation (rehab) facility is difficult and quite expensive. Most rehab centers do not always meet the particular needs of the patient. Or maybe the insurance company will only pay for a certain period of time in a treatment center and is vague on reimbursement, forcing the teen to go the outpatient route before attending an inpatient program, where most addiction specialists believe the teens needs more time than an adult and which causes the problem to repeat itself.

A Long and Difficult Process

Teen recovery is a difficult program to run successfully because there are many issues during the recovery process. Teens are not as developed mentally and physically as adults, so the programs, counselors, and assistants need to be consistently aware of what each teen is doing and how he or she is progressing. Teens are difficult to counsel due to their limited understanding and life experiences. They just know what feels good and what they did to feel better in the recent past.

Habits are difficult to break with teens due to them not fully understanding why they are taking drugs or drinking alcohol. Communication is difficult because most teens recovering are usually depressed, so they are less open to learning new habits and skills. Teens tend to be compulsive and run with the first thing that comes to mind instead of thinking of what may happen if they go to a party or hang out with their old friends. They just understand they are going to have fun, so changing the thought process in this group is hardier and takes longer than with an adult in recovery. Regardless, teens can recover from drug and alcohol addictions.