Teenage Drug Addiction Problem And Solution Psychology Essay

Is your teenager using drugs? Is he or she addicted to them? One will learn how to be aware and identify if his or her teenager is using drugs. You as a parent can prevent your child from doing drugs. It is a dangerously manner. Every parent should be the first ones to try and eradicate drugs. You and your teenager should learn the short-term and long-term effects of drug usage. Also, one should be aware of the consequences and effects of doing drugs. Lastly, you as a parent can make a difference in your teenagers’ life.

Introduction of Drug Addiction

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, addiction can be described as “a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal (“Addiction,” 2010).” Why do individuals become addicted to drugs? Some believe that those abusing drugs should be able to stop taking them; those people who believe that do not know the background of drug addiction. Stopping drug abuse is not a simple thing to do when you have been doing it for a while; it can be described as a disease that interacts with the brain. One shall learn about how drugs work and how those that abuse drugs can be treated, so they can go on with their regular lives.

Human beings who are emotionally suffering are normally the ones that use drugs to escape from their situation; which can lead to drug abuse and addiction. Drug abuse and addiction is a major problem in the world today. According to Felicia Byrnes, mainly those who abuse drugs and are attached to them are teenagers (Byrnes, 2009). Is your teenager using drugs? The two ways one as a parent can identify and prevent your child from using drugs is drug awareness and drug testing. There are three main points one can consider if their child is using drugs is awareness and identification, prevention, and eradication.

Awareness and Identification

There are four steps a parent can use to get their teenager to be aware of using drugs and so one can identify if their teen is involved in this matter. The four steps are simple and parents should be able to execute them. The four steps in order are to have a talk with your teenager about using drugs, to be specific about your concerns, to not make excuses, and to try to remain calm and connect with your child.

The first step of awareness and identification is to sit down and talk to your child about drug usage. As a parent, one should be able to talk about this topic when one has enough time and is calm. Your feelings may change over time if during the conversation you do find out that your kid is using drugs. If that is the case, all one can do is stay involved in his or her life to make a positive difference.

The second step is to be specific about your concerns as a parent. Explain to your child specifically how you feel about him or her using drugs and what you have observed. Tell him or her how their appearance or behavior has changed and why that worries you as a parent. For an example, your child may be dressing differently and may have bloodshot eyes. Also, as a parent one should let their teenager know that their life can be at risk due to drug use is a dangerous matter.

The third step is to not make excuses. Does your teenager not go to school for no reason and does not let you know? Do you believe something else is at play? Well when one as a parent suspects something like that and still makes excuses for their child, you are not helping them. You as a parent need to sit down and talk to your child. That is the only way one will get information from their child that they need.

Finally, the fourth step is to try to remain calm and connect with your child when you talk to him or her. Have a discussion with your kid to find out what is going on in their life. At most times a teenager likes to be private about their life, so the parent needs to connect with him or her and find out why your teen may be choosing to use drugs. Did friends give it to him or her? Was he or she trying drugs, or did he or she use it for another reason? By connecting with your teenager it will show that you as a parent care and you are going to use your rights as a parent.

Prevention

Taking drugs is only an action that you choose to do, it is up to you and can be prevented. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has researched and found that programs to help prevent drug usage that involve families, schools, media, and communities are usually the ones who reduce drug abuse (“Nida infofacts: understanding,”). Although they may affect drug abuse trends, youths see it as dangerous and the youth might not use drugs anymore. It is necessary for parents and teacher to talk to the youth, so the children will understand the risks of drug abuse. If one never abuses drugs than drug addiction can be prevented. Drug prevention is usually taught in health class on a school campus or you can also go to a rehabilitation center.

When one that has problems with drug usage enters a drug rehabilitation center one needs to know what program is the one to enter. A trained health professional will make a diagnoses to let you know which program is best for you. The programs at rehabilitation centers usually include residential, inpatient, or outpatient. The length of stay in the center depends on how the person is at the time when one came into the center and on what kind of disease one has.

Recovery of drug abuse is a hard situation to deal with because every person is different in their own degree. Recovery is a long-lasting process. Once a person leaves a rehabilitation center or treatment area, one shall apply the skills that they had been taught into their everyday routine. However, sometimes one is not able to execute what they learn into their lifestyle. So, some centers have a follow-up program to see if one has progressed in their recovery. The hardest part of preventing drug abuse is making the choice to get treatment for ones own drug addiction.

Eradication

As a parent, you should sit down and have a few conversations with your teenager. Ask: Who? What? Where? When? Talk to your child and ask why he or she is using drugs. When doing so understand the reasons why he or she is using drugs, so that you can help your teenager solve their issue. To try to get rid of ones teenagers’ drug usage the parent should hide and closely monitor their alcohol, inhalants, prescriptions, and other medications. By doing so it has been found to decrease substance abuse by a teen. As a parent, you should also set rules and consequence. One should also get their child involved in social activities to keep them busy.

Also, one can create a community substance abuse prevention program that can change the lives of residents in your community. Drugs and crimes related to drugs are usually in every community. It does not matter if it is a rich, middle class, or poor community. The community should get involved to stop ones selling drugs or even trafficking drugs.

The law enforcement should be more aware of the number of people selling and buying drugs. They should be able to locate immediately where the drugs are being stored, and where it is coming from. The law enforcement is the ones to keep places free from drugs so children do not interact with these different substances. If the law enforcement finds any drug distributors, they should have a crucial punishments when they are caught selling to minors or anyone.

Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of Drug Abuse

One as a parents needs to let their child know the short-term and long-term effects of using drugs. According to the California University State Police, the short-term effects of using drugs can consist of a rush, depressed respiration, clouded mental functioning, nausea and vomiting, suppression of pain, and spontaneous abortion. The long-term effects of using drugs are infectious diseases, collapsed veins, bacterial infections, abscesses, infection of heart lining and valves, and arthritis or other rheumatologic problems (“Drug awareness,” 2010). Teenagers should know this so they know there consequences if they do start using drugs and get addicted to them.

Conclusion

In order to find out the drug addiction in teenagers, one should know the short-term and long-term effects of drug usage so one can identify if your child is on drugs. Your teenager should be aware of the consequences and the effects of drugs. When your child is well-informed with the right information about drugs and someone is helping them get out of this addiction will solve the situation. Even if you as a parent has to find out where the drugs are coming from and catch those drug dealers will also terminate the drug usage of your loved one.

Although drug addiction is a brain disease, it is up to one if they want to get rid of their situation or not. There are treatments one can go through to help themselves become in charge of their addiction and get control back over their life again. Together addiction treatment medications and behavioral therapy is the correct way to gain control back. Treatments that are specifically for ones drug abuse problem can turn out later to be a successful recovery and at the end one will have a life without any drug abuse.

Recommendations

Based on the results and solutions to solve this problem of decreasing the number of teenagers in drug addiction, one should recommend that all parents should talk to their teenagers about the facts and effects of the drug usage. Also, ones teenagers should know the consequences of the drugs that the teenager is taking. Only the parents’ calm behavior and restrictions can keep their kid away from using those substances. It is only the ones whom one cares about that can help those addicted to drugs get rid of their issues and if necessary put them in a rehabilitation center. Also in rehabilitation centers more care should me given to their patients and a lot more programs can be created to terminate the matter of teenage drug addiction.