Parenting advice – What’s important when it comes to teens, alcohol, and drugs

July 8th, 2011

Parents often ask us what they can do to prevent their children or teens from becoming alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals, and the likes. I’ve been all of these and more, and so I’d like to share my insight with you now that I’ve made it over to the other side:

You can’t prevent anything – but you can educate, inform, prepare, and support.

My family breaths success; it also breeds its. My father was a star athlete who turned into a star doctor and a star family man. He also never drank alcohol and couldn’t care less about drugs. My mother was a beauty queen who always helped me get the best grades in school, even if it meant that she ended up doing my art projects for me and keeping me up all night so I’d finish my work. I’m not sure if it was my perception or my parents’ actual wish, but I always felt like unless I saved the world, I would end up a nobody. Drinking enough alcohol to black-out and consuming every drug on earth was never supposed to be on my menu.

A recent article I read in a monthly psychology magazine (see my post on it here) talked about this sense of perfectionism in our culture and its effect on teen depression, anxiety, and alcohol and drug abuse. Did you know that these are highest among more affluent teens?

Advice #1 – Shooting for good performance is important, but focusing on it as a sole measure of success can lead to trouble.

I got gifts for grades, and the best gifts came only with the best grades. Anything short of perfect was pretty much frowned upon and considered “less than my best.” It became impossible for me to actually enjoy anything but the school subjects I excelled in (math, physics, chemistry). It wasn’t until I graduated from college and did some of my own exploration that I learned to appreciate art, English, and history as worthwhile pursuits. It’s a well-know fact in developmental psychology that you don’t reward behaviors that are supposed to be appreciated in their own right. If you do reward them do so with small gifts, nothing large. Big gifts take away the perception that the activity itself brought about enjoyment.

Advice #2 – Parenting requires consistency and openness, but leave the preaching for church.

This constant need for perfectionism also lead to the repression of many issues in my family.

My parents fought often when I was a kid, screaming loud enough for me to take my sister away often and go play. We never talked about the fights so I never managed to learn about conflict, relationships, or resolution. We never talked about my stealing either, whether I was stealing from my family (mainly my father’s porn) or from the neighborhood toy store. The one time I got caught, my father sternly told me to return my new toy and to never be caught stealing again. I began stealing away from my neighborhood; it would be years before he’d hear about me stealing again. It probably would have been better to sit down and talk about what just happened.

Later on, when my mother would find my weed in my room, she would hide it so that my dad won’t find it because he would get mad. We call that enabling. When I was caught stealing at my work, my father didn’t want to tell my mom, so as not to upset her, so he never brought it up again. We call that denial. Neither of these work since they don’t teach a child anything except how to hide things properly and that even responsible adults lie.

But research shows us that preaching is not a good parenting technique so stay open and talk about struggles without being hypocritical and trying to teach lessons that are obviously forced. Kids and teens pick up on that very quickly but they’re ready to learn from their parents.

Advice #3 – Don’t let your sense of pride, or your ego, prevent you from dealing with real issues with your children. Parenting requires you to be the adult in the relationship with your children even when things don’t go your way.

By the time my parents were forced to confront reality, things in my life had spiraled way out of control. They received a call from my LA lawyer telling them that their son had been arrested for some pretty serious drug dealing. My bail was set at $750,000 and I was facing 18 years in prison. That’s pretty difficult to ignore.

Ironically, my arrest, court case, and the year I spent in jail brought my family closer together than we had even been during my teen years or my later drug addiction phase. Having to actually confront many of our issues allowed us to bring some actual intimacy into the family I had run away from so many years before. The important thing was that my parents didn’t pull out the “we told you so” card but rather helped me confront my demons and treat them. It was the best parenting I’d received in my life and it worked.

My parents did the best they could. I know that. Still, I can’t help to wonder if worrying a little less about how things “should be” and a bit more about the reality of parenting their deviant son may have prevented the latter part of this story. Then again, there’s no guarantee of that either. That’s the most important parenting advice I can give when it comes to teens and drugs…

Posted in:  Education, For others, Tips Tags: addiction, addiction help, Alcohol, best, best grades, caught stealing, drug abuse, Drugs, family, help, important, parenting, parenting advice, stealing, teen addiction, teen drug use, teens and drugs

Alcohol, sleep, and school work: College drinking and GPA

July 2nd, 2011

Co-authored by: Jamie Felzer

We all know that college students often party and sleep more than they actually study.  But do heavy alcohol use and poor sleep patterns cause poor grades?

A recently published study found that just altering bed times by 2 hours can throw off your sleepiness during the day.  Most students in the study did show a 2-4 hour difference in daily bed times between weekdays and the weekend, and most went to bed after midnight.

The average number of drinks for participants came in around 6 drinks a night (equal for men and women).

The big question is: can these heavy drinkers in college still perform well academically? (See here for influential factors in college drinking)

No matter what the cause, insufficient sleep causes poor academic consequences.  Interestingly, those students who reported much more sleep also had lower GPAs (oversleep was mostly assumed, by the researchers, to be caused by drinking and staying up too late, though it could have been due to other issues such as depression).

Overall, those that drank more often went to sleep later and also had bigger gaps between weekday and weekend bedtimes, all of which correlated very highly with a lower GPA.

Citation:

Singleton, Wolfson (2009). Alcohol Consumption, Sleep And Academic Performance Among College Students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. 70, 355-363)

Posted in:  Alcohol, Education, For addicts, Tips Tags: academics, Alcohol, bed, bed time, bedtime, college, college drinking, college students, drinking, GPA, school work, sleep, sleeping, students

How much alcohol is too much drinking? Knowing your BAC can be key!

June 27th, 2011

There has been some research suggesting that training people to better estimate their Blood Alcohol Content (BAC), can help reduce accidents and improve risk-taking while drinking among college students (see here and here respectively).

I’m including a recent piece from one of our readers, telling us about her first over-21 drinking experience in Las-Vegas. I think this story exemplifies that young adults may often consume more alcohol than they are aware of while underestimating its effects Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Addiction Stories, Alcohol, Drugs, Education, For others, Tips Tags: 21, Alcohol, BAC, drink, drinking, drinks, drunk, las vegas, risk, too much, total drinks night, training, vegas

Antisocial personality disorder – Drug policy and court mandated addiction treatment

June 13th, 2011

A recent study conducted by a group at the University of Maryland found that court-mandated addiction treatment is especially helpful for those with Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).

Using 236 men, it was found the overall success for participants without ASPD was high (85%) whether the treatment was court mandated or not. However, for those with ASPD, a whopping 94% remained in court-mandated treatment, though only 63% stayed in voluntary programs!

ASPD is relatively rare in the general population, but it’s estimated that its prevalence is relatively high (some estimate the prevalence as high as 50%) among addicts in drug treatment programs. I personally doubt that ASPD prevalence is that high even among treated addicts but it is certainly higher.

The Maryland team’s findings have two important implications for substance abusers with ASPD that should be noted:

1. Judicial mandates offer a way to keep them in addiction treatment programs.
2. Voluntary participants may require special interventions to keep them actively engaged in therapy.

Recently, a colleague shared with me some great insight about research into the effectiveness of mandated treatment: Mandated treatment can be effective if implemented well, which may sound simple but isn’t within a system that is used to putting down prisoners and not building them up. However, without aftercare, even the best mandated treatment loses its impact quickly. When it comes to aftercare, when trying to determine the best form of it (outpatient, residential , intensive, medical, etc.) the best thing to do is to ask the released client – if the match between the client’s desires and the treatment provided is high, the results are significantly better.

Citation:

The interactive effects of antisocial personality disorder and court-mandated status on substance abuse treatment dropout. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 34(2):157-164, 2008

Posted in:  Drugs, Education, For others, Tips, Treatment Tags: abuse treatment, antisocial, antisocial personality, antisocial personality disorder, ASPD, court, court mandated, drug policy, jail, mandated, mandated treatment, substance abuse treatment, treatment, Treatment

Convincing yourself to quit smoking – The influence of personal beliefs on smoking

June 5th, 2011

A study published in Addictive Behaviors showed that thinking actively about quitting smoking cigarettes allows people to smoke less!!!

In the experiment, participants from one group of smokers were asked to think about reasons to quit smoking and write them down on a piece of paper. Participants from a second group of smokers were asked to read pre-written anti-smoking arguments.

Both groups of participants were then asked to wait up to 30 minutes while the experimenter prepared a task unrelated to the actual experiment. Individuals who generated their own arguments against smoking abstained from smoking cigarettes longer than those who read pre-written anti-smoking arguments.

The results of this experiment suggest that self-generated information has a greater influence on smoking behavior (at least in the short-term) than information that is simply read.

Many anti-smoking campaigns try to “educate” people out of smoking cigarettes. They provide a great deal of information on the potential health hazards of smoking and try to convince smokers to quit. This approach can be dangerous as smokers might feel as though they are being attacked and react defensively. The truth is, many smokers already understand the consequences of tobacco use. If anti-smoking campaigns could find a way to develop personal beliefs against smoking, smokers might have an easier time not lighting up.

Citation:

Müller, B., van Baaren, R.B., Ritter, S.M. (2009) Tell me why…the influence of self-involvement on short term smoking behavior, Addictive Behaviors, 34(5)

Posted in:  Drugs, Education, Tips, Treatment Tags: abstain, addictive behaviors, anti, anti smoking arguments, anti smoking campaigns, anti-smoking, beliefs, cigarettes, feelings, group smokers, on smoking, quit smoking, quitting, smokers, smoking, smoking cigarettes

Body image and medicalization: Socially relevant behavioral “addictions” beyond drug use

May 21st, 2011

We know that addiction can go beyond drug use, but are we becoming addicted to making our bodies perfect?

I put “addiction” in parentheses here because I think it’s important to distinguish substance-related addictions from behavioral ones. There’s no doubt that people’s behavior can become compulsive in the same way addicts become compulsive about using, but I’ve seen no evidence that behavioral addictions interfere with brain function in the way that cocaine, methamphetamine, and opiates alter actual brain mechanisms.

Still, this recent trend of obsessive plastic surgery is a dual-headed “addiction”, one that is both physical and social.  In many ways, people are now able to change aspects of their being that were once thought unalterable including their own physical appearances. To gain social acceptance, if you have money, you now have new tools!

This may also play a big role for those who are love addicted, at least if they have money… Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Education, Opinions, Prescription, Tips Tags: addiction, antisocial, behavioral addictions, body image, celebrity, death, drug use, hollywood, hormones, love addicted, love addiction, love addicts, medical procedures, medicalization, medication, michael jackson, michael jackson's death, my addiction, people, perfectionism, pill, plastic surgery, prescription, relationship addiction, sex addiction, social, society, surgery

Will you get addicted? Signs of drug abuse

May 17th, 2011

Everyone wants to know if they, or someone they love will get addicted to alcohol or drugs.

• Parents want to know if their children are likely to become addicts, especially if there is a family history of addiction.

• Teens wonder if trying a drug will lead to a life of crime and shame.

So what are the signs of drug abuse?!

Unfortunately, I have to start with the answer you probably don’t want to hear: no single factor can be said to fully predict substance abuse. Instead, the equation can be thought of as an interplay of risk-factors and protective-factors.

Having family members with alcohol- or drug-abuse problem is an example of a risk-factor. The more risk-factors a person has the more likely it is that person will become addicted. Some risk factors interact to make the likelihood of addiction much greater than either factors alone.

Protective-factors are life events or experiences that reduce or moderate the effect of exposure to risk factors. Some examples of protective factors are: parental-monitoring, self-control, positive relationships, academic competence, anti-drug use policies, and neighborhood attachment.

Risk Factors Vs. Protective factors – An implicit battle

There are five categories of risk and protective factors including individual, school, peer, community and family. Examples of protective factors within the individual category include social skills and responsiveness, emotional stability, positive sense of self, problem solving skills, flexibility, and resilience.

Other aspects of the individual category include the gender and ethnicity of a person. Men are generally more likely to become addicted (likely because they are less prone for internalizing issues like depression). American-Indians are genetically more sensitive to the effects of alcohol, while about 20% of the Jewish population may have genetic variations that protect them against alcoholism. Overall, estimates regarding the genetic influence on addiction risk range from 40% to 80%. Much of that genetic risk lies in changes related to the functioning of neurotransmitters that play a part in the development of addiction such as GABA, serotonin, dopamine, NMDA. Those with mental disorders of all types are at an increased risk for developing an addiction.

Some factors, like stress, can be considered part of multiple categories. Individual variability in stress response (via the HPA Axis) would be part of the individual category, while levels of environmental stress can be part of the other four categories.

The home and school life of a child (part of the non-individual categories) can play a large role as either risk-, or protective-factors. If a child sees elders using drugs, they may view drugs as harmless, but children who are well prepared by their parents may better resist peer-pressure to use drugs. As we stated before, the earlier a person begins to use drugs, the more susceptible they are to harmless effects on brain structures and other bodily functions.

Certain methods of using drugs can also be considered risk-factors. Smoking or injecting a drug causes it to be more quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, producing an almost instantaneous high when compared with eating or drinking a drug. However, the quick rush of euphoria may soon dissipate and leave the user feeling the “rebound effect” making them crave the high again. This quick, short lasting, cycle is believed to encourage the user to want to the drug again in hopes of reaching that high.

Overall there is no one thing that can predict or protect against addiction. Instead, a combination of factors are always at play and the more aware a person is of these factors the more able they are to protect themselves.

Co-authored by: Jamie Felzer

Citations:

http://www.psychiatry.ufl.edu/aec/courses/501/risk%20and%20protective%20factors.pdf

http://www.drugabuse.gov/scienceofaddiction/addiction.html

http://www.aadac.com/documents/profile_youth_risk_protective_factors.pdf

 

Posted in:  Drugs, Education, For addicts, For others, Tips Tags: addiction, Asian, community, drug, factors, family, Indian, Jewish, protective, protective factors, risk, risk factor, risk factors, signs of drug abuse, stress