Adolescents Problem of Substance Abuse and Its Treatment - Coursework Example

Adolescents’ Problem of Substance Abuse and Its Treatment The of the Adolescents’ Problem of Substance Abuse and Its Treatment Our modern world can offer many interesting and useful things for the development of an adolescent’s personality. Still there is a great variety of negatively affecting matters among other new and accessible things for teenagers, which are most likely to be tried by infancy with its characteristic feature of reaching out for everything of a recent nature. The issue is substance use and abuse that is reflected in the multitude of factors complicating life of adolescents and their surroundings at all levels of interaction (Steinberg, 2011). Actually, the question of substance use by youngsters is one of the most important, pressing and complex social problems at the moment (Monasterio, 2014). The whole difficulty of the point lies in unpredictability of risk groups, that is, adolescents who have a propensity or predisposition for substance use addiction (Monasterio, 2014). It is difficult to distinguish any type of families exposed to the primary danger of becoming those ones who face the use of substances by their children. The problem can affect both rich and poor families, the only difference is that children from wealthy families use expensive substances, and children from poor families consume those ones which are cheaper. However, if parents smoke, are addicted to alcohol and drugs, it makes it more likely to adopt addictive behavior by their off-springs (Chakravarthy, Shah, & Lotfipour, 2013). Numerous prerequisites for the beginning of substance use as well as prevention of the problem and its treatment in case of the development turn the issue to be extremely specific but possibly curable one (Steinberg, 2011). It is firstly necessary to explain that the highest prevalence of substance use is recorded in the teenage environment, which is accounted for their socio-psycho-physiological characteristics (Steinberg, 2011). This idea is supported by the fact that adolescence is an important period of growth, formation of personality and his or her intensive socialization, which is characterized by the absorption of not only positive but also negative social stereotypes. One of its probable results is increasing of the number of substance users among youngsters (Sussman, 2011). The roots of the problem are hidden in various somewhat difficult peculiarities of circumstances in which adolescents live and communicate (Steinberg, 2011). The case is not so directly in inappropriate living conditions, though they play not the last role in the development of cognitional behavior of teenagers (Steinberg, 2011). To a large extent their turning to substance use and even abuse may be dictated by peculiarities of the awkward age and characterized by such notions as puberty, cognition, identity research, and relations with family members and peers. It is not surprisingly that a contribution into substance use by teenagers is made by their peers (Steinberg, 2011). In other words, opposite traits, aspirations, tendencies coexist and struggle with each other, determining the inconsistency of nature and behavior of growing children. All in all it becomes clear that adolescence is a flexible period for youngsters to turn into substance users or abusers due to the peculiarities of their world cognition through the perception of interaction with authoritative in their eyes peers who may have a direct negative impact by the example of their personal illegal substance consumption (Sussman, 2011). In this regard, there must be particular effective preventive measures for nipping substance use in the bud in order not to let it to boil over in substance abuse with much more serious problems and consequences of the issue in the future life of adolescents. Before the beginning of substance use or at its initial stage it is essential and important not to slow with the analysis of the situation as soon as possible in order to set a-going of the preventive measures (Chakravarthy, Shah, & Lotfipour, 2013). After tracing of the sources of the issue, it is practicable to minimize or totally eliminate their negative content for the personality of adolescents (Chakravarthy, Shah, & Lotfipour, 2013). On the assumption of socio-psychological features of youngsters’ interaction with their peers and families, there are several key roots of substance use as a result of negative impact of poor environmental conditions, namely: communication with a bad company, in which there are members with a penchant for substance consumption or those who have already tried it; adversarial family circumstances (bad parental example, humiliating or moribund treatment of children by their parents); oxypathy, depression as a consequence of reason for being absence; lack or deficiency of parental control (teenagers lose their motivation of positive leisure time activities related to physical and cultural growth, and take in the negative one with key point of entertainments and communication within a particular group of people provoking substance use) (Sussman, 2011, & Steinberg, 2011). The aim of prevention is reduction of the demand for substances through weakening of risk factors and enhancing of protective ones associated with substance use and abuse (Chakravarthy, Shah, & Lotfipour, 2013). For that matter a teenager, a family, peers, a school, and society are the direct targets of preventive measures. As the experience shows intimidatory approaches can bring no benefit for improvement of situation, for only personally oriented humane methods have a particular positive result (Steinberg, 2011). As a matter of fact, numerous preventive actions with their social and psychological bases are focused on lowering of substance availability and cultivation of substance anti-image for adolescents (Steinberg, 2011). This is realized through continuous trainings with an active part of substance users themselves in the programs of prevention (Steinberg, 2011). As for the involvement of parents and social units from teenagers’ surrounding, their main goal is the decrease of risks for removing the roots of the issue or their maximal improvement (Chakravarthy, Shah, & Lotfipour, 2013). But the best prevention is the absence of reasons for occurrence of any adolescents’ problems, including substance use. Nature of family communication, spiritual atmosphere, traditions, culture and significant family values set a stamp upon the formation of a child, who turns into a teenager after some time. Anyway it is obvious that family participation is one of the strongest preventive measures (Sussman, 2011). To the point, persons who have experienced substance use in the childhood, then transfer it to adolescence in a chronic form with worsening continuation of situation in adulthood (Steinberg, 2011). It is further proved by the results of numerous studies, which trace the dependence of adults’ substance abuse on substance use in adolescence (Chakravarthy, Shah, & Lotfipour, 2013). So it is a task of a top priority for families and society not to allow such a practice by children. At any rate, substance use must not turn into abuse with its horrible aftereffects for the health and life of adolescents, which sometimes even cannot be cured by the numerous ways of addiction treatment (Sussman, 2011). For the understanding of the whole seriousness of substance abuse we must underline its extremely negative consequences both for physical and mental health of adolescents. The crucial question is an evident threat to health resulting in problematic functioning of some organs as well as general decline with such a serious problem of psyche as depression (Steinberg, 2011). In particular, the main danger of chronic depression is watching the world in black colors and absence of life purpose (Steinberg, 2011). In such a context there is a great possibility of suicide committing by substance users. According to statistical data there are approximately 10 percent of the U. S. adolescents who have tried to take their own life (Steinberg, 2011). So it is of no doubt that such a life hazard evidences scales of negative impact of substance use and abuse issue. The timely treatment of the disease is half a success (Sussman, 2011). It is well-known that adolescents dependent on consumption appear in a very deplorable situation when it is impossible to cope with a problem or give up substance consumption all alone (Sussman, 2011). Resistance and denial add to the common complexity of adolescents’ unwillingness to understand the harmful character of substance use, so the only possible effective way out is an active involvement of appropriate medical care services (Monasterio, 2014). If in the case of substance use at the initial stage it is a kind of experiment for teenagers, and it is possible to get out with minimal damage to health, then in this situation only comprehensive treatment under constant close supervision of medical professionals can help (Steinberg, 2011). Anyway this difficult time of youngsters’ life needs to be gone along with their parents who will support them in the desire to recover from addiction and to curl up to the former life (Sussman, 2011). This hardship is meant to be passed through horrible sufferings from physical and mental dependence of substance abusers, in which the common climate of trust and support between patients and doctors within the medical center is the key benefit for effective disease treatment (Sussman, 2011). The persons experiencing the problems under research often need medical intervention, and there are treatment programs available to help the suffering people. (Monasterio, 2014). Substance use disorders programs, for example, comprise such components: outpatient treatment, which is primarily a means of group-based treatment: family therapy, groups of prevention or psychoeducation, based on community or school principle, models using anonymous group therapy; and residential, or inpatient, treatment, based primarily on medical treatment of the patient and including detoxication, inpatient treatment of short-term type to stabilize the patient’s condition, and therapeutic influence by means of application of educational elements, social assistance in patient’s recovery efforts, and a combination of both group and individual therapy. (Monasterio, 2014). The ideology of substance abuse treatment includes four approaches: the Minnesota, family therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and therapeutic community approaches (Sussman, 2011). The first model is similar in its activity to Alcoholics Anonymous in terms of rejection to use both pharmacological and psychotherapist cure, and focus on groups of self-assistance. (Sussman, 2011). The approach of therapeutic community means that both patients and counselors act as therapists based on inpatient treatment model. (Sussman, 2011). In such conditions, everyone is responsible for being a therapist despite the fact that every patient mostly has his own counselor. (Sussman, 2011). Family treatment approach means involvement of all the members of the family for resolving the problem and helping the patient. (Succman, 2011). This approach also considers the state of affairs within the family and the relationships of its members which are often problematic. (Sussman, 2011). Behavioral approach, logically, deals with the problem of behaviors connected with the substance use and possibility of prevention of choosing and application of such behavior models. (Sussman, 2011). Another important means of the substance use and abuse problem resolving is prevention, and this activity also provides programs on a universal basis, that is, programs covering all the population independently of the status of risk. (Sussman, 2011). Effectiveness of media techniques programming, school and family-based programs of prevention was proved. (Sussman, 2011). The major approaches the prevention has in psychosocial sphere are social and personal skills development approach and approach of social affecting. (Sussman, 2011). The social affecting approach has to do with the formulating of the awareness about adverse effects of the substance use and resistance to such use, and personal skills development means promotion of development of individual control and management in terms of substance use. (Sussman, 2011). The role of mass media in preventing substance use and abuse is exceptional because it is the way to cover the biggest number of people and to visually demonstrate the true images from life of the substance abusers without omission of some scenes that may seem unpleasant or shocking, but this is the strongest way to demonstrate the terrible results and consequences of this senseless activity (Sussman, 2011). The mass media can also be used for promotion of lifestyle without substance use, healthy way of life, active participation in social initiatives aimed at resistance to substance use and abuse. (Sussman, 2011). Schools and educational institutions also benefit to the prevention programs, because they can include topics on substance abuse prevention into their educational schedules and contribute to the change of the students’ behavior in terms of relation to substance abuse. (Sussman, 2011). The problem in this regard is that the work on prevention of substance use must be carried on and with taking more efforts because the effects of prevention programs are felt some time later. (Sussman, 2011). All things considered then substance use and abuse among adolescents is an extremely complicated problem due to the socio-psycho-physiological characteristics of teenagers’ development and specific impact of substance on physical and mental health of the addicts. In this respect a timely prevention of substance use is a real essential way of escaping of difficult treatment of the abuse with a painful rehabilitation period. References Chakravarthy, B., Shah, S., & Lotfipour, S. (2013). Adolescent drug abuse – awareness & prevention. Indian J Med Res., 137(6), 1021-1023. Monasterio, E. B. (2014). Adolescent substance involvement use and abuse. Primary Care Clinics, Office Pract 41, 567-585. Sussman, S. (2011). Preventing and treating substance abuse among adolescents. The Prevention Researcher, 18 (2), 3-7. Steinberg,L. (2011). Chapter 13. In adolescence (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGrawHill, 119-147. Read More