Teens drug rehab

Usually posting about free drug rehabs, but this time i wanted to focuse on teen drug rehab, no matter are they free or paid, because when it came to youngest it is most scaring and dangerous. Today, there is a lot of teenagers with drug abusing problem, and many parents in first time even didn't recognize a problem, and when recognize that their kid had drug problems, they usualy are with mixed feeling and don't know what to do. Usual questions when parent suspect that teenager child have drug problems are:


- is my teenager kid realy have drug abusing problem?
- if it has, what program to choose?
-I heart something about 12 steps programs, are they good?
- I heart about non-12 step programs are they maybe better?
- i heart about religious drug rehabilitations for teenager?
- what to do att all now?! How to find good teenager drug rehab?
- should I try with free rehab or paid one?
- and many other questions

It is very natural in first moment to be confused and don't know what to do. 

1. First, absolutley most important is to identify the problem, is it related to teen drug abusing or not. To be sure is Your teenager really had contact with drugs and really have drug abusing problems. i am saying this because teenagers are sensitive and offten you can see some signs but they don't strictly to be connected with substancies abusing, sometime they don't talk to much or don't eat to much, but that also can mean that they fealt in love, for example. So don't panic, that is first step.Every parent's worst nightmare is finding out one of their children has a drug problem. Even worse would be losing a child to a drug related death and wondering if there was anything you could have done to save them. Just as children need to be educated about drugs, parents need to be educated as to what signs they should be looking for that might indicate a problem.There are many physical and behavioral signs that your child may have a drug abuse problem. Knowing what some of these signs are may be the difference between getting your child the help they need and finding out too late that they were in trouble. First, we'll take a look at the behavioral side of it. The most important thing you can do as a parent is be actively involved your child's life. This means be more than just someone who provides them with food and shelter. Be involved in their school life and their social life. Ask them questions about where they're going and who's going to be there. Insist on meeting their friends and their parents to find out what kind of people they are hanging out with. If you stay involved in all aspects of your child's life, you'll be more likely to notice a change in their behavior.There are many different behavioral changes that could indicate a drug problem in your teenage child. You may begin to notice that your child is locking their bedroom door all the time or just being more secretive in general. The friends that they've had for years don't seem to be coming around anymore. Instead, they might have a new group of friends that they really don't want you to get to know. You may find that you're catching them lying to you when they never have before. One sign that will show up with almost all drug use is mood swings. Your child may seem very lethargic and overly tired one moment and then hyper-active and aggressive the next. A sudden lack of interest in the things that were once important to them such as athletics or hobbies could occur as well. Changes in appetite and sleep patterns could also be brought on by drug use.

After this if you realy find that your teenager soon or daughter have drug abusing problem, then defintly it is time to ask for help from experts. Choosing right teens drug rehab, can be crucial. I will try to help you to give you attention what aspects of rehabs for your teen you are considering. Choose a quality teen drug rehab

Everything about a child's addiction to drugs or alcohol is difficult for parents, and even after the decision is made to get help, even choosing an appropriate treatment facility can challenge at a time in life when you could only wish there were some easy answers.

Drug and alcohol rehab is expensive, it's a big commitment, and more importantly; the stakes are high, and you want to do everything in your power to choose a drug and alcohol rehab facility for your troubled teen that has the very best chance of offering them a happy and productive future of sobriety.

The options are many, and unfortunately, the level of care you get may be partially determined by the degree of insurance coverage you posses and your ability to finance private care. But there will likely be a number of options available to you, and you will need to make a choice between many. There are some intangibles that cannot be quantified and yet remain important, and if something about a facility strikes you as "off" it's a good idea to listen to your heart, but having some objective measures from which to evaluate a facility can assist you in narrowing down the options.

Here are 5 criteria that you may want to use when selecting a drug and alcohol rehab for your teen:

Is the rehab for teens only?

Teens do not do well in adult specific treatment, and although there are many facilities that will accept adolescents into a general rehab, these are rarely a good choice and offer a slim chance of success. Teens have different needs, and require different programs.

Teens do not suffer from the same types of problems as do adults, will not likely relate well to other addicts in recovery, get little value out of group sessions, and fail to get teen specific programming.

Emerging through adolescence and into adulthood is hard enough even without the complication and challenges of addiction or substance abuse. Teens suffering a problem with drugs or alcohol deserve to get help at a facility that can assist them with their unique, school, peer group and psycho social needs; and whatever an adult facility might maintain, they will not be able to do an effective job with this.

What about school?

Although the number one priority for teens in a drug or alcohol rehab program is the bettering of abuse and addiction, school should not and cannot be overlooked in its importance.

Teens with substance abuse problems too often enter into rehab already suffering academically from their period of drug abuse, and ideally they may use the period of rehab to boost academic performance as they better addiction.

Quality teen rehabs will employ professional educators, well equipped and trained to handle discipline and behavioral issues in the classroom, and the teacher to student ratio in the classroom should be low enough that teens can get the individual and remedial attention they need to catch up on what they missed, and maybe even excel past their peers.

Drug or alcohol rehab should never be a vacation from school responsibilities, and a quality academic component is necessary at any drug or alcohol rehab for teens.

How much family involvement is encouraged?

The single greatest factor influencing success rates at drug and alcohol rehab for teens is the level of family support and participation in the therapies of rehab. Teens are not yet adults, are having a very hard time, and as much as they may maintain a brave face about their ordeals; they do still need their mom and dad for help during such a tough period.

Family involvement doesn’t just mean occasional or even daily phone calls--although the more contact the better--it also means an active and involved participation in the therapies of rehab. Parents should ideally be invited to participate in group and family specific therapy sessions, in educational seminars and other for programming. By including the family throughout recovery, parents and siblings can heal together with the teen addict, and can also learn how best to support and encourage a teen recovering addict once out of treatment and back in the home.

Family participation is invaluable, and you should be very wary of any teen facility that does not encourage a high level of family involvement.

What types of aftercare are offered, and for how long?

Ideally, drug and alcohol rehab consists of two separate but equal phases of treatment, and although the first residential phase gets all the attention, the second "aftercare" phase is arguably just as important.

Aftercare simply means continuing therapeutic involvement once finished with residential rehab and back in the community. Aftercare may mean continuing group meetings, may be 12 steps based, may be individual therapy; and at best should probably be a combination of all of the above.

Continuing participation in therapies during the months and even years after rehab is extremely important for long term sobriety, and all quality rehabs will offer aftercare programming, and usually inclusive in the price of admission.

If a rehab facility does not offer aftercare, they may not be the best choice for your son or daughter.

What type of assessment is given prior to treatment?

While a comprehensive teen rehab facility should be well equipped to treat the majority of teens abusing drugs and or alcohol, there will be some kids with problems either so severe, or requiring of a treatment so different, that they are not well equipped to handle their needs.

Teens who may be suffering from a concurrent psychiatric illness may benefit more from a different type of treatment, and teens with antisocial histories of problems with violence may also not get the help they need at all types of rehabs. It's important for a rehab facility to administer a pre assessment questionnaire to get an initial idea of the problems they are facing, and to determine if they are equipped to offer legitimate and beneficial treatment.

If a rehab facility claims they are able to treat all teens, regardless of their personal histories, this should raise some alarm flags as to the true quality of the rehab facility.


Is any type of treatment 100% guaranteed ?


Unfortinatly there is no such drug rehab program that will give you 100% guarantee, it depends on many factors, but that what you can influence in, is to identify problem early. In that case chances are almost 100% that teenager will become drug free after detox program, so advice to parents is, if you are suspicious that your teenager abusing drugs, don't denied that you see that your kid may have problem with drugs, as soon as you check, and if there is problem, than as soon as your teenager start detox chances or success are better.
If you can't afford treatment, try finding free drug rehab near you.


Are expensive drug treatment better that cheap or free ?


They should be but it is not rule, every type of rehab deserves to be consider separately, so when you are choosing drug addiction treatment and approach choose wise, before making final decision collect as much as it is possible info about programs that you are considering and compere each.

Few words about sex addiction

As You know, I am usualy write about drug rehabs focused mostly on free drug rehabs in US and UK, but this time, something else attracted my attention, different kind of addiction: sex addiction or sex rehab. There are certain people who need this kind of addiction so i will introduce You what sexual rehab is and who need it.

Sexual addiction is not a term made up for people who are looking for an excuse to be irresponsibly horny, as some may erroneously believe.  Sexual addiction is in fact a real addiction and it destroys lives all the same as a drug or alcohol addiction. People struggling with sexual addiction find themseves behaving in uncontrollable and compulsive ways, putting themselves and those around them in considerable danger.  Sexual addiction does not get the same attention as drug and alcohol addiction, but it is still very real and very dangerous.  Read here about sexual addiction, its roots, effects, and how to best help someone who is struggling.

Sexual addiction is hypothesized to be (but is not always) associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), narcissistic personality disorder, and manic-depression. There are those who suffer from more than one condition simultaneously (known as a dual diagnosis or a co-occurring disorder), but traits of addiction are often confused with those of these disorders, often due to most clinicians not being adequately trained in diagnosis and characteristics of addictions, and many clinicians tending to avoid use of the diagnosis at all.

Specialists in obsessive-compulsive disorder and addictions use the same terms to refer to different symptoms. In addictions, obsession is progressive and pervasive, and develops along with denial; the person usually does not see themselves as preoccupied, and simultaneously makes excuses, justifies and blames. Compulsion is present only while the addict is physically dependent on the activity for physiological stasis. Constant repetition of the activity creates a chemically dependent state. If the addict acts out when not in this state, it is seen as being spurred by the obsession only. Some addicts do have OCD as well as addiction, and the symptoms will interact.

Addicts often display narcissistic traits, which often clear as sobriety is achieved. Others do exhibit the full personality disorder even after successful addiction treatment.

Definition says that sex addicts are unable to control their sexual impulses, which can involve the entire spectrum of sexual fantasy or behavior. Eventually, the need for sexual activity increases, and the person's behavior is motivated solely by the persistent desire to experience the sex act and the history usually reveals a long-standing pattern of such behavior, which the person repeatedly has tried to stop, but without success. Although a patient may have feelings of guilt and remorse after the fact, these feelings do not suffice to prevent its recurrence and the patient may report that the need to act out is most severe during stressful periods or when angry, depressed, anxious, or otherwise dysphoric. Eventually, the sexual activity interferes with the person's social, vocational, or marital life, which begins to deteriorate.

How to see first symptoms? The sex addict uses sex as a quick fix, or as a form of medication for anxiety, pain, loneliness, stress, or sleep. Sex addicts often refer to sex as their "pain reliever" or "tension reliever." Other indicators that sexual behavior may be out of control include:

an obsession with sex that dominates one's life, including sexual fantasies that interfere with work performance

excessive time devoted to planning sexual activity that it interferes with other activities strong feelings of shame about one's sexual behavior

feelings of powerlessness or inability to stop despite predictable adverse consequences

inability to make a commitment to a loving relationship and/or extreme dependence upon a relationship as a basis for feelings of self-worth

little or no genuine emotional satisfaction or attachment gained from sexual encounters

Compulsive or addictive sexual behavior may take various forms, including what many regard as "normal" heterosexual behavior. The type of sexual activity and even the frequency or number of partners are not of great significance in diagnosing this problem. Some individuals have a naturally stronger sex drive than others, and the range of human sexual activity is so broad that it is difficult to define "normal" sexual behavior. What is significant is a pattern of self-destructive or high risk sexual behavior that is unfulfilling, a person is unable to stop, and their life becomes unmanageable as a result.

The first major study of sexual addiction was published by Patrick Carnes in 1991.(4) It was based on questionnaires filled out by 752 males and 180 females diagnosed as sex addicts, most of them admitted for treatment in the in-patient Sexual Dependency Unit of a hospital in Minnesota. The others had at least three years of participation in one of the 12-step programs for recovery from sexual addition. Of the sex addicts in this survey, 63% were heterosexual, 18% homosexual, 11% bisexual, and 8% were unsure of their sexual preference.

The sexual addicts who responded to Carnes' questionnaire were typically unable to form close friendships. Their feelings of shame and unworthiness made them unable to accept real intimacy. They were certain they would be rejected if others only knew what they were "really" like, so they found myriad obsessive ways to turn away a potential friend or loving partner. Despite a large number of superficial sexual contacts, they suffered from loneliness, and many developed a sense of leading two lives--one sexual, the other centered around their occupation or other "normal" activity.

In Carnes' survey, 97% responded that their sexual activity led to loss of self-esteem. Other reported emotional costs were strong feelings of guilt or shame, 96%; strong feelings of isolation and loneliness, 94%; feelings of extreme hopelessness or despair, 91%; acting against personal values and beliefs, 90%; feeling like two people, 88%; emotional exhaustion, 83%; strong fears about own future, 82%; and emotional instability, 78%.

Carnes found that 42% of sex addicts in his sample also had a problem with either alcohol or drug dependency and 38% had eating disorders.

Sex rehab and treatment

Treatment will focus on two main issues. The first is the logistical concerns of separating you from harmful sexual behavior in the same way drug addicts need to be separated from drugs.

Accomplishing this might require inpatient or residential treatment for several weeks. An inpatient setting protects you from the abundance of sexual images and specific situations or people that trigger compulsive sexual behavior. It's simply harder to relapse in a structured and tightly controlled setting. Sometimes, you can succeed in an outpatient setting with adequate social, family and spiritual support.

The second and most difficult issue involves facing the guilt, shame and depression associated with this illness. It takes trust and time with a competent therapist to work through these emotions. If you are very depressed, the best treatment might be an inpatient residential setting where professionals can monitor and properly manage your symptoms.

12-Step Programs Twelve-step programs, such as Sexaholics Anonymous, apply principles similar to those used in other addiction programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. However, unlike AA, where the goal is complete abstinence from all alcohol, SA pursues abstinence only from compulsive, destructive sexual behavior. By admitting powerlessness over their addictions, seeking the help of God or a higher power, following the required steps, seeking a sponsor and regularly attending meetings, many addicts have been able to regain intimacy in their personal relationships.

Cognitive-Behavior Therapy 

This approach looks at what triggers and reinforces actions related to sexual addiction and looks for methods of short-circuiting the process. Treatment approaches include teaching addicts to stop sexual thoughts by thinking about something else; substituting sexual behavior with some other behavior, such as exercising or working out; and preventing the relapse of addictive behavior.

Interpersonal Therapy 

People addicted to sex often have significant emotional baggage from their early lives. Traditional "talk therapy" can be helpful in increasing self control and in treating related mood disorders and effects of past trauma.

Group Therapy 

Group therapy typically consists of a healthcare professional working with a group of between six and 10 patients. Working with other addicts allows you to see that your problem is not unique. It also enables you to learn about what works and what doesn't from others' experiences, and draw on others' strengths and hopes. A group format is ideal for confronting the denial and rationalizations common among addicts. Such confrontation from other addicts is powerful not only for the addict being confronted, but also for the person doing the confronting, who learns how personal denial and rationalization sustained addiction.

Sex rehab Medication 

Recent research suggests that certain psychiatric medications -- namely antidepressants -- may be useful in treating sexual addiction. In addition to treating mood symptoms common among sex addicts, these medications may have some benefit in reducing sexual obsessions.