How To Deal With Substance Addiction In Teenagers?

Teenagers are at a stage where they feel they need ways to deal with what’s happening in their lives. Their emotional intensity puts them at a higher risk of indulging in substance abuse. Most often, your teen’s drug introduction could be due to peer influence from friends, undetected mental health disorders like depression, wanting control, or low self-esteem.

Slowly your child may start drinking, injecting, or sniffing themselves with substances such as alcohol, ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana, inhalants, opioids, or prescription drugs. Your teen may only begin by experimenting, but over time, develop a tolerance to the substance.

Once they hit that stage, your child may suffer long-term side effects. Firstly, your teen is at a high risk of getting a heart attack, liver failure, or an overdose. Secondly, they can endanger their lives by driving under the influence of substances.

In addition, their academic performance may quickly deteriorate. If you want to avoid pushing your child further away, it’s essential to provide a comfortable space where communication can proceed amicably.

Meanwhile, your teen’s substance abuse can cause unsettling feelings, especially if your teen is too deep into substance addiction. However, you need to look into positive ways to help them manage or completely do away with the substances.

Signs Your Teen Is Using Substance

To know the extent of substance addiction in your teenager, you should be aware of the signs showing they may be using substances. Below are some of them:

• They start underperforming or skipping school.
• They isolate themselves from family gatherings like reunions or dinners.
• They avoid eye contact whenever you’re speaking to them.
• Being secretive and withdrawn, they often shut themselves in their rooms.
• They’re often aggressive, irritable, or dismissive.
• They use breath mints or mouth wash to cover alcohol or drug smell.
• They start neglecting their hygiene.
• They become nauseous in the morning.
• They’re either losing or gaining weight.
• They’re selling most of your items or theirs.
• They’re asking you for money persistently.

You’ll observe such changes, especially if your teen never used to be so moody, practiced regular hygiene, and was very open to you. Thus, to help your child deal with their substance addiction, constantly be on the lookout for these signs.

Ways To Help Teenagers With Substance Addiction

Remember, substance abuse isn’t something your teen can stop in a day. Little things here and there can draw them back to addiction. So, take the initiative to help your child manage addiction. With that in mind, below are several ways you can help your teen deal with substance addiction:

1. Seek Professional Help

When your teen is under substance addiction, it’s best to take them to a physician to get assessed. The physician can help notice whether your child’s addiction is a sign of an underlying medical condition. They can also evaluate how much it has caused deterioration in your child’s life.

After making a diagnosis and evaluating the actual situation, they may suggest a way forward and recommend you to a mental health professional who can handle the problems your teen is undergoing. It’s necessary to take them to reliable health facilities such as Alvarado Parkway depression treatment centers to treat them with evidence-based methods.

Remember, even though you may be trying at-home measures, it still helps to talk with professionals with vast knowledge of substance abuse. On the other hand, your teen might be using substances to cope with specific issues.

For instance, they’re trying to cope with typical mental health problems such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, anger, panic attacks, or borderline personality disorder. It’s best to ask if the facility has programs tailored to teens to encourage your child to seek help.

The centers may also suggest the best treatment option and advise you on whether your child’s essential needs require inpatient or outpatient treatment. While at it, don’t force your teen to attend rehab; explain the advantage before approaching your child with it.

2. Learn About Addiction

This stage helps you, as a parent, familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of substance addiction. The concept of substance addiction may still be new to you. Therefore, knowing the basics by hearing from people isn’t enough. Take time and research what addiction entails, the typical drugs teens often abuse, and their consequences.

This way, when you speak to your teen, you know at least what they’re going through. You can also learn behaviors to look out for and when to intervene and help out.

3. Speak To Your Teen

Discussing with your teen enables you to know why they’re using the substance in the first place. Remember, you can’t assume to know everything that’s happening with your teen. Ensure you have a conversation about it, but don’t confront them. Keep the lines of communication open so they can talk to you anytime.

Hold the conversation when your teen is sober and can comprehend what you’re saying. Avoid using labels to describe your teen’s condition. Also, don’t set ultimatums to force them to stop taking drugs. Speak your mind gently but firmly and allow your teen to chip in.

4. Stay Calm

Being emotional is expected when you notice your child is under substance addiction. However, it’s the way you go about it that matters. The realization that your child is using substances and you’re allowing it to happen may cause you to feel guilt. When your child sees such, they might get deeply affected and go back to abusing substances.

So, take your time to try and understand. Staying calm allows you to set boundaries and create a healthy environment where your teen can speak openly. No matter what happens, stay calm and don’t overreact because your child will shun the idea of getting better.

On the other hand, what are the possible consequences when you start overreacting? You may start panicking that your anxiety makes you say awful things in a rush of thoughts. You may convey hurtful words in the heat of the moment.

Other times, you may feel compelled to go to your teen’s room and search for the drugs they’re using. These behaviors are significantly scarier, especially for teens. It’s natural to feel panicked about losing a child to substance addiction. However, if you lose control, you could end up saying or doing things that are hurtful to your child.

5. Be Supportive

It helps if you accept your teen is in substance addiction and try to work towards assisting them to overcome their urges. When you stay silent about it, the more your teen will turn to drug addiction. Hence, speak to teachers, family, and friends so they can foster a positive and supportive environment. Your teen will appreciate being loved without any judgments.

Support enables you to build trust, which is a significant step you can take in helping your teen deal with substance addiction. You must be around to help them deal with issues no matter how busy your schedule is. Even if your teen tries treatment and relapses again, continue encouraging them to improve. Feeling motivated makes your child slowly pick up pieces of their life.

6. Educate Your Teen On Better Ways Of Handling Issues

You can help your teen deal with substance abuse addiction by teaching them better ways of dealing with the problems they’re going through. Your teen may be more inclined to get better when they see how much input you’re undertaking to assist them with their recovery. You can encourage your teen to try these self-help coping tips to improve themselves:

• Exercise: Instead of letting your teen stay in the house to avoid using substances, you can encourage them to try exercising. You could enroll them in yoga classes to handle their stress or go jogging with them. Exercising helps rid the body of accumulated toxins from substance abuse. Also, it assists in producing happy hormones, which can help them stay positive.
• Indulge In Community Activities: You can motivate your teen to attend mission centers where people engage in positive actions to help the community. They can get involved in support groups for teens dealing with substance addiction. Your teen can talk to other people who struggle with substance abuse and learn about the progress they’ve made in their life.
• Journals: You could buy your teen a journal and encourage them to jot their feelings down, keeping their mind away from substance abuse. They can write down the milestones they’ve achieved and continue getting better.
• Practice Meditation: It’s another excellent way your teen can deal with substance addiction. It helps your child to be mindful and avoid having too many worries.
• Mentorship: If your child finds it hard to speak to you, you can get them a mentor. You can help them find someone who they look up to and can understand their typical everyday challenges.
• Try New Hobbies: You can pay for your teen to get into art classes so they learn better ways of expressing themselves and handling their emotions. Alternatively, your teen can try out skiing, swimming, reading, or playing music to keep busy and avoid turning to drugs.

When your teen is involved in an activity, it helps them avoid thinking about drugs. Consequently, they’ll have positive people to hang out with to help them improve.

7. Get Involved In Your Teen’s Life

Simple things like being involved in your child’s life can help them deal with substance addictions. First, take the initiative to learn about the things they do daily by asking them questions. They may feel comfortable enough to share their challenges, hoping you may be able to provide some relief. If your child is struggling with opiate withdrawal or addiction, it is crucial to seek professional help and support. Resources such as opiate withdrawal-focused programs and treatment centers can provide the specialized care and guidance necessary to navigate the challenges of overcoming opiate addiction. By actively engaging in your child's life and connecting them with appropriate support services, including opiate withdrawal programs, you can play a vital role in their recovery journey and help them find the relief and support they need to overcome addiction.

Second, ask them to invite their friends to get a sense of who your teen is hanging out with. Also, ask the teacher what they do when you’re not with them. Lastly, pick up your child after school to ensure your teen is safe and won’t go and meet suspicious people.

8. Set Healthy Boundaries

Establishing favorable rules can help your teen overcome their substance addiction. You can ask for your teens’ input when setting the boundaries. Your child could be into it when they see you’re not forcing them into anything. For instance, you can agree on doing the following:

• Avoid giving them money they don’t need; only give them the necessary amount.
• Impose a reasonable curfew to encourage them to be at home on time.
• Reduce your child’s screen time so they can learn to distinguish between real life and the internet. This can safeguard them against the influence of their peers online.
• Being open with your explanations, so they understand what you expect.

If your teen notices you’re more involved in their life, they’ll feel you care about their well-being and are invested in making them manage their substance addiction.

9. Pay Attention To Their Behavior

When your teen is under substance addiction, you could begin by checking how they behave instead of the substance they’re using. It can be a starting point for your conversation about their substance abuse.

With time, they’ll tell you why they’ve used them in the first place. The technique can also get help for the issues they’re struggling with because of their addiction.

10. Remove Substances From Home

When your teen struggles with withdrawal symptoms, they won’t hesitate to take your wine, spirits, or prescription drugs to relieve their symptoms. So, you can help your teen deal with substance addiction by removing all the alcoholic substances and locking away any prescription drugs in a place they don’t have access to. This can assist you in managing their condition significantly because you’ve removed possible risk factors.

Conclusion

Seeing your teen indulging in substance abuse isn’t an easy thing. Your first thought is to stop the use immediately. However, dealing with substance abuse isn’t something your child can overcome within a day, especially if they’ve developed a high tolerance. All you can do is help your teen deal with this problem proactively.

Remember, your child is more inclined towards getting better when they know you still love them and you’re not angry about their behaviors. It’s also best to seek help from professionals with vast knowledge of teen substance abuse. They can treat the underlying condition to help your child overcome substance addiction.