Treating Substance Abuse At A Residential Treatment Center For Teens
The teenage years are incredibly difficult for both parents and teens. Some troubled teens turn to substance abuse to assist them in dealing with their circumstances and parents need more help freeing their teens from the influence of these substances as teenagers are more prone to be addicted than adults.
Teens Are More Prone To Substance Abuse
There are several factors in play that make teens more vulnerable to abusing substances than adults.
Teens’ brains are less developed – It can be tough as parents to understand the actions of their teenagers, but in some cases, it comes down to the fact that the human brain isn’t fully developed until a person is 25 years old. Also, the area that is underdeveloped in teens is the part of the brain which controls things like empathy, critical thinking, and planning. This lack of development can leave teenagers more likely to take risks such as using prescription drugs or illegal substances.
Their brains receive a higher reward for substance abuse – Drawing conclusions from a study which examined the brains of teenage rats, researchers saw that teenage subjects had a much higher reward response to substance abuse than adult subjects. While this higher reward did not always result in a higher addiction rate, it did make the teenage subjects more prone to trying to seek the drugs.
Teens have fewer coping skills – To adults, the statement “worse day of their life” from a teen may sound humorous, but for a teen, many tough circumstances can really result in the worse day of their lives. As teens don’t have the life experience adults have to give context to their hardships, some teens turn to substance abuse to blunt those feelings of frustration, awkwardness, sorrow, and other negative emotions they don’t know how to cope with in the right ways.
Peer pressure can play a huge role – Who your teen surrounds themselves with will play a large part of if they come into contact with illegal substances in their teen years. Not all teens will be offered opportunities to abuse substances with the right peers, but those teens who have friends already abusing substances, it is far more likely that your teen will be pressured to partake. For teens who do give into these factors and turn to substance abuse, immediate attention and care are required to help the teen escape from the insidious influence of drugs.
Residential Treatment Is A Critical Step For Substance Abusing Teens
To help your teen detox from the substances they have abused, inpatient treatment should be your first step. The inpatient environment is usually a heavily-monitored medical facility so the troubled teen can be safely weaned off the drugs they have been abusing. However, inpatient treatment is a short-term option and teens will require more help after they are released from being treated.
To fill the treatment gap between inpatient and living at home, you can send your troubled teen to a residential treatment center. At this type of treatment center, your teen will learn a number of skills and receive other benefits which can help them kick a substance abuse addiction forever.
How Troubled Teens Are Helped By A Residential Treatment Center
Teens that go home right after inpatient rehabilitation can often fall right back into the destructive cycle which led to the original substance abuse. This is due to the fact that nothing has really changed for the teen, except they were caught and medically treated for substance abuse. To help troubled teens make permanent positive changes, a residential treatment center for teens can help enormously.