The Addicted Child: A Parent's Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse

The Addicted Child

A Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse

Richard Capriola

ISBN (Print Edition): 978-1-09832-723-1

ISBN (eBook Edition): 978-1-09832-724-8

© 2020. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

During my tenure with the Menninger Clinic in Houston, Texas, I treated patients on the Adolescent Treatment Unit and the Comprehensive Psychiatric Assessment and Stabilization Unit. Both specialize in assessing and treating patients with psychiatric and substance use disorders.

It was an honor to work alongside a talented staff of psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists, and nurses. They assessed, diagnosed, and treated patients with severe psychiatric and addiction disorders. Because they believed in the untapped strength of each patient, more times than not, this remarkably talented staff transformed lives. It was an honor to be part of their team.

I am also indebted to the patients and families I met. They blessed me with a willingness to share their stories and struggles. I learned far more from them than they learned from me. Their courage to confront serious mental health and substance abuse issues enabled them to move forward with their lives and gave others hope that healing and recovery is possible.

Very few things are more destructive to a family than having someone, especially a child, addicted to drugs or alcohol. While working on the Adolescent Treatment Unit I met parents struggling to understand and accept their child’s psychiatric and substance abuse issues. For most of these families it was a heart-breaking experience.

Sadly, many families do not have the financial resources to send their child to a nationally acclaimed psychiatric hospital like the Menninger Clinic. Their desperate search for help often leaves them feeling alone and without a roadmap to guide them through the process of assessment and treatment. The Addicted Child was written for these families.

Contents

Introduction: The Addicted Child

Chapter One: Adolescent Substance Use

Chapter Two: The Brain on Drugs

Chapter Three: Assessing Your Child

Chapter Four: Marijuana

Chapter Five: Alcohol

Chapter Six: Nicotine

Chapter Seven: Narcotics

Chapter Eight: Stimulants

Chapter Nine: Depressants

Chapter Ten: Hallucinogens and Dissociative Drugs

Chapter Eleven: Inhalants

Chapter Twelve: MDMA (Ecstasy/Molly)

Chapter Thirteen: Process Disorders

Chapter Fourteen: Principles of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

Chapter Fifteen: Types of Treatment

Chapter Sixteen: Evidence-Based Approaches to Treating Adolescent Substance Use Disorders

Chapter Seventeen: Resources

REFERENCES

Introduction

The Addicted Child

As the parent of an addicted child, feelings of helplessness, blame, and fear can drown out any sense of hope. If your child uses alcohol or drugs, you know firsthand how it affects your family. You may be carrying your child’s addiction on your own shoulders. You’ve cried and felt scared, wondering if today the drug would take your child forever. You might have been angry and asked, How did I miss the warnings? or wondered, What did I do wrong?

You love your child but, like one patient’s mother told me, you may feel overcome with fear. She sat across from me and through her tears, she cried, I didn’t know what to do. I thought I was going to lose her.

If addiction has plagued your family, you see up-close how alcohol and drugs invade your child’s brain and create abnormal behaviors. Angry outbursts. Defensiveness. Rebellion. When you try to control these behaviors, you set in motion a conflict that escalates the problem. So you establish strict rules, and when your child violates them, you punish the behavior. Soon you find yourself stuck in a cycle of control and out-of-control. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with the battle.

The majority of teens I treated used marijuana, usually multiple times a day. When asked why they used it, most said, It helps my anxiety. Their answer points to an important clue hidden below the surface of substance abuse: There could be an underlying reason why your child uses alcohol or drugs. It might be to relieve anxiety or depression. Perhaps it’s to avoid traumatic memories like bullying. It might be to cope with a psychological issue, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit disorder, or a personality disorder. While not every child using substances has an underlying psychological issue, for those that do, treating the alcohol or drug problem without treating the mental health issue behind it can be a treatment plan doomed to fail.

When you look beyond your child’s drinking or drug use, you may discover their struggle to manage intolerable thoughts, feelings, or memories is a core issue that requires treatment. However, you’re probably not equipped with the resources, training, or education to adequately do so. Therefore, it’s important that you insist on a comprehensive psychological and medical assessment before starting any treatment.

If you’ve been down this road, you might have already taken this step. Hearing the results of your child’s psychological assessment and diagnoses can be more difficult than hearing the details of their substance use. No parent wants to hear that their child is broken. You probably knew something about their alcohol or drug use, but the psychological findings can be shocking. Shattering. Confusing. Frightening.

I have sat in hundreds of diagnostic conferences when parents heard for the first time that their child has severe anxiety, major depression, or suffers from an emerging personality disorder or schizophrenia. Hearing these diagnoses is heartbreaking because parents usually see the substance abuse while completely unaware of the underlying mental health issues.

Your child may be creative at flying under the radar and discreetly hiding their substance use. The most frequent reaction I heard from parents was, I had no idea this was going on! Or