Part I: Dealing With Your Teen’s Relapse from Drug and Alcohol Addiction
Michael Pantalon discusses addresses strategies for dealing with teens possibly relapsing into drug and alcohol addiction.
Nov 04, 2011
Drugfree.org
By, Michael V. Pantalon, PhD
November 2, 2011
A “Relapse” Scenario
Imagine your 17-year-old son has been doing really well — staying away from alcohol and pot for the past 6 months following a 28-day stay in rehab. He’s back at school, his grades are good and he’s playing soccer again. On top of that, his new friends seem supportive of his recovery. As his parent, you feel you can finally breathe a small sigh of relief.
However, when your son comes home early from school one day without his backpack, you’re worried. You confront him and his explanation makes sense: his last class was cancelled because a teacher became sick and there was no one available to sub; he did his homework earlier in the day and during part of the last period, so he didn’t need his backpack; and you already knew there was no soccer practice that day. The next day everything seems back to normal.
Several days later, however, he comes to you and says that he would like to leave school early on Friday to go to a concert in the city. When asked about how sensible that might be given that it might be a trigger for using and about the group of kids that he’s going to the show with, he becomes defensive and irritable. A few minutes later he confesses that the day he came home early, he had slipped out of school right after first period to hang out with some old friends. He ran into these old friends (the very crowd he used to use and drink with) on the way to school that day and instead of staying in school, he spent the day with them, playing Call of Duty (a popular shooter video game), and smoking and drinking, and that now he’s struggling with strong urges to continue using.
Read More
Nov 04, 2011
Drugfree.org
By, Michael V. Pantalon, PhD
November 2, 2011
A “Relapse” Scenario
Imagine your 17-year-old son has been doing really well — staying away from alcohol and pot for the past 6 months following a 28-day stay in rehab. He’s back at school, his grades are good and he’s playing soccer again. On top of that, his new friends seem supportive of his recovery. As his parent, you feel you can finally breathe a small sigh of relief.
However, when your son comes home early from school one day without his backpack, you’re worried. You confront him and his explanation makes sense: his last class was cancelled because a teacher became sick and there was no one available to sub; he did his homework earlier in the day and during part of the last period, so he didn’t need his backpack; and you already knew there was no soccer practice that day. The next day everything seems back to normal.
Several days later, however, he comes to you and says that he would like to leave school early on Friday to go to a concert in the city. When asked about how sensible that might be given that it might be a trigger for using and about the group of kids that he’s going to the show with, he becomes defensive and irritable. A few minutes later he confesses that the day he came home early, he had slipped out of school right after first period to hang out with some old friends. He ran into these old friends (the very crowd he used to use and drink with) on the way to school that day and instead of staying in school, he spent the day with them, playing Call of Duty (a popular shooter video game), and smoking and drinking, and that now he’s struggling with strong urges to continue using.
Read More