Substance abuse is rampant in the United States and as a child counselor in Arlington, TX, I have worked with a number of young people who abuse or are addicted to alcohol or drugs. Though children and teens don’t have the problem of substance abuse costing them their jobs or marriages, they are at risk for serious legal problems, health problems, cognitive problems, ruined relationships and even death.
Why Children Abuse Drugs And Alcohol
Children and adolescents often abuse drugs and alcohol for the same reasons that adults do; they use mood-altering substances to self-medicate because they feel isolated, depressed or anxious. These feelings can arise from any number of things including physical, psychological or sexual abuse. For children, though, there is the added pressure of wanting and needing to fit in with their peers; and often, fitting in means adopting bad behaviors like drinking too much, smoking pot or taking other drugs.
What Parents Can Do To Prevent Drug And Alcohol Abuse
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Parents who abuse alcohol and drugs, even prescription drugs, are going to have a harder time convincing their children that it’s wrong than parents who don’t abuse drugs or alcohol. The second thing parents can do is to keep lines of communication open between themselves and their children. As a child counselor in Arlington, TX, I know how effective talking can be. Parents who talk openly and frankly to their children about all of the dangers they’re likely to encounter in their lives, and how deal with them, will have healthier relationships with their children, and, subsequently, healthier children who won’t have to seek solace in a bottle of liquor or a bottle of
In fact, teens in our country do not have a deep knowledge of the negative effects of drug use. Without realizing the drug can cause until failed to make rational decisions and is also likely to be fatal, our teenagers addicted to the drugs. The occurrence of drug abuse is influenced by peers. This is because, a friend is someone nearby to adolescents after the family.
Today, teens and young adults involve themselves with alcohol. This is often due to peer pressure. Alcohol is easy to abuse and is not seen as a drug like heroin or
The parents hand over responsibility as if it was an easy job to provide without any experience or being taught overall. At young ages children in families that have an alcoholic parent are taken away from their childhood to protect those other family members who are in need of
Alcoholism involved in childhood can lead children most susceptible to have trauma later in life. “Children of alcoholics endure chronic and extreme levels of tension and stress as the result of growing up in the home with a parent struggling with alcohol abuse” (“What”). Children do not need the added stressors of having an alcoholic parent in their household when it can easily be prevented. “According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), one in every five adult Americans resided with a relative who misused alcohol during their adolescence.2 As a general rule, these people have a greater likelihood of having emotional troubles compared to children who grew up in homes without alcohol misuse” (“What”). With a greater likelihood of having emotional troubles and trauma, children could significantly struggle emotionally later in life.
According to a recent study, “Around 284 million people aged 15-64 used drugs worldwide in 2020, a 26 per cent increase over the previous decade.” (Hansford, Brian. 2022). With this increase it has gotten particularly much easier for youth to gain access to these illegal substances. Youth are particularly vulnerable as their brains and bodies are still in the development phase. Altering this phase with the use of these dangerous substances will result in major health impacts on the brain and body, resulting in further, more drastic issues later in life.
Having the honor to help people who don 't know how to help themselves get out of drug abuse would truly be amazing. This is why Chosen Substance Abuse Counselor. As a Substance Abuse Counselor. Substance abuse counselors work with people who are addicted to substances such as heroin, prescription pills, alcohol, and act. I will be attempting to figure out why, how, and when the substance abuse started.
We know that a baby does not come into this world knowing how to roll a joint or smoke crack, Those actions are learned, and in most cases those actions are learned at a young age. This relates the the other Wes in The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. The other Wes, as a child, watches his older brother get wrapped up into the drug game and also sees the riches in which it brings. So in order to reduce the number of drug users we need to focus on the children. In 2014, 21.5 million Americans aged 12 or older met the criteria for a substance use disorder (or addiction) in the previous year.
Alcohol abuse and alcoholism seems like an issue that keeps getting increasingly worse each year in the United States. According to USA Today and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both say that approximately 6 people die from alcohol poisoning, caused from binge drinking, each day, which amounts to roughly 2,200 people each year. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says that “In 2013 an estimated 697,000 adolescents ages 12–17 (2.8 percent of this age group) had an [alcohol use disorder]” (“Alcohol Facts”). Something has to stop and something has to change from preventing this more because 6 people dying each day from binge drinking alone is a lot, not to mention that 12-17 year olds are having alcohol problems at such a young age. Lowering the drinking age will enforce this act even more, promoting more drinking in fact.
The role of family based interventions in the prevention of substance abuse in Adolescents; Over the past few decades, Substance use and abuse among adolescents has continued to be important public health concerns that contribute greatly to morbidity throughout globally. The present essay aimed to investigate the family role in the prevention of substance use in adolescents. For several years, substantial research efforts have been undertaken to understand the epidemiology of substance use and abuse. The knowledge gained from these research studies has been important in understanding and developing effective prevention and treatment approaches. According to various datasets, the prevalence of drug use, alcohol and tobacco increases rapidly
Drugs such as alcohol have an effect on all users, regardless of their age; however, alcohol has an especially harmful effect on teens since their bodies are still developing. Studies have shown that alcohol has numerous negative effects on a teen’s body and mental health; for example, a study conducted by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention stated that “alcohol consumption affects the brain’s frontal lobes, which is essential for functions such as emotional regulations, planning, and organization” (“Age”). Teens already have high emotions and difficulties planning and organizing; alcohol will only enhance teens’ struggle. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention also found that alcohol consumption at a young age can potentially cause chronic problems such as memory loss, depression, suicidal thoughts, and poor decision making (“Age”). Teens have a difficult enough time making decisions and organizing their lives, but adding alcohol to the mix will only make matters worse; their bodies are still developing, and they are still learning to be adults.
Family as well as peer relationships tend to have an effect on youths’ risk of substance use. Positive family relationships that have good parenting practices tend to have protective effect on youths while negative relationships featuring conflicts and abuse associate with a greater risk of substance use (name, date). Youths with friends who encourage the use of alcohol and cannabis is also a risk factor as adolescence may believe by agreeing with their peers and using substances, their popularity in the group will increase (name,
It apears that children who exprienced drinking at young age will also continously and habitually drink in the future once they grow up. They do not simple do this occasionally but it has become a frequent and habitual addiction (Christiansen et al. 7). In totality, drinking alcoholic beverages of teenagers is not is unhealthy, unsafe, and unacceptable. More and likely teens that drink are trailing behind in their education because of how alcohol affects them so bad. Some parents allow their children drink alcoholic beverages under certain circumstances with their
By the time they are high school seniors, seventy-two percent teenagers say they have already consumed alcohol. Proper education at younger ages is needed for our country’s youth to learn the proper use of alcohol through experimentation with their own limits in safe environments.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services acknowledges that there are 10 million teens in the United States drinking regularly and over 20 percent binge drink. ( Teen Alcoholism). This information illustrates the dependence that teens have developed for alcohol and many of them don 't even know the issue that they are building for themselves. The signs that demonstrate that a teen is becoming or is addicted to alcohol are that he/ she is a heavy drinker, they drink regularly for no reason and becoming upset over the removal of accessibility of alcohol.
According to a study done at the University of Washington, “ For the developing young adult, drug and alcohol abuse undermines motivation, interferes with cognitive processes, contributes to debilitating mood disorders, and increases risk of accidental injury or death” (Hawkins). When teens abuse drugs, they can damage their brains. This can affect everything from emotions, to memory. The abuse of drugs as a teen can also lead to accidental death, particularly involving overdoses and car accidents. Also, according to Addiction Center, an information center about drug use, abuse, and addiction, “Substance abuse affects teen brain development by: interfering with neurotransmitters and damaging connections within the brain, reducing the ability to experience pleasure, creating problems with memory, causing missed opportunities during a period of heightened learning potential, ingraining expectations of unhealthy habits into brain circuitry, [and] inhibiting development of perceptual abilities” (Health).