When Your Teenager has a Drinking Problem
Teenagers are three times more likely to develop drug and alcohol problems than adults. The combination of normal youthful rebellion, immature coping skills, and family issues can lead a young person to alcohol much faster than most would expect.
With technology becoming increasingly powerful and teenagers having more resources at their disposal, fake identification is becoming easier to obtain, despite the state’s efforts to make licensing harder to forge. Friends with highly relaxed parents, or parents who are unaware or self-absorbed, may not notice the quantities of alcohol disappearing from their supply for a long period. Parents who frequently throw parties themselves are less likely to keep tabs on the alcohol in the house as closely as those who are light drinkers and seldom host gatherings.
Recognizing alcoholism in teens can be a slow process. Many parents spend quite a bit of time in denial, attributing behavioral changes to normal teenage experimentation and rebellion. Understanding that your child has an alcohol-related disease can take months of arguments, punishments, failed attempts to get them to stop drinking, and, unfortunately, far too often, a disaster.
Taking the First Step Toward Help
The most important first step, the instant you even suspect a drinking problem, is getting help. Your teenager needs help, and you need help. Nothing else surrounding the issue is as vital as reaching out for assistance. Your child will need interventions to stop drinking, while you will need professional guidance to manage their behavior and try to save their life.
Drugs and alcohol are two of the most destructive behaviors a teenager can experience. They are five times more likely to be in a serious car accident and three times more likely to experience teenage violence.
Often, resolving a drinking problem cannot be done at home. There is too much freedom and too many unmonitored eyes. Rehab facilities offer your teenager a place where professionals can address the physical effects of detoxification, as well as the behaviors exhibited by people who are still trying to sneak in a drink here and there. Addicts can be quite manipulative, and their manipulations can slip past even the most aware parents who haven’t had specialized training. Even those with specialized training are often more likely to send their child elsewhere until they find some self-control, as professionals tend to struggle when dealing with their own children.
An onset of depression is almost guaranteed when your child stops drinking. This depression is serious and needs to be treated with the same level of seriousness as the drinking itself. Most teenagers experience a period of self-hating remorse, feeling completely overwhelmed, and displaying anger at the situation, which can easily manifest as depression.
Kids start down the road to alcoholism 94% of the time to mask symptoms of an underlying depression or to cope with a traumatic event. When drinking is forcibly stopped, the original issue will eventually surface and must be addressed, no matter how unpleasant the situation may be for everyone.
It can be difficult to recognize the symptoms of drinking in a teenager. Excessive sleeping after coming home late is normal behavior, so it can be tough to determine whether they are sleeping off a hangover or simply need rest. If your child is permitted to come home after you are in bed, wake up during the night and check on them closely. Remember, they have friends out there who will teach them how to slip this by you. These friends may even convince them that they don’t have a problem or provide them with alcohol or drugs while they are in rehab.
Do not give up. A teenager with a drinking problem is twice as likely to continue struggling with it in early adulthood if it isn’t addressed while they are still young. You cannot simply put a band-aid on this problem and call it resolved. This is an issue that will take a few years to really get under control and a lifetime for your child to maintain control. There is no shame in reaching out for help and getting the best available support for your child.
