{"id":5157,"date":"2017-09-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/5-myths-teens-substance-abuse\/"},"modified":"2018-11-14T18:04:51","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T00:04:51","slug":"5-myths-teens-substance-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/5-myths-teens-substance-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Myths About Your Teen and Substance Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

We love our kids, don\u2019t we? In our experience, the vast majority of parents truly don\u2019t believe their kids will be the ones who get caught up in substance abuse. But the statistics don\u2019t lie. Today the number of people who have a substance use disorder is on par with the number of people living with diabetes\u2014and is actually higher than the annual prevalence of all cancers combined, according to a November 2016 report from the U.S. Surgeon General. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one in three high school seniors reported having a drink<\/a><\/strong> in the last month, and 35% of students grades 9-12 reported they’ve used marijuana<\/a><\/strong> at least once.<\/p>\n

Numbers aside, just look around. Substances are readily available to our children, whether it\u2019s liquor at a family reunion or prescription pills left over from an injury.<\/p>\n

To beat the addiction epidemic, we have to become more aware and work together (with compassion) to address it as a community. Here are five myths we can start busting now.<\/p>\n

#1. \u201cIt won\u2019t happen in my family. My kids know better.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teens try substances for a variety of reasons, and it\u2019s not just to fit in and look cool. They might be curious or bored, or they might try to replace stress with good feelings amid a personal or family crisis. The drug use of an influential friend\u2014maybe a friend you didn\u2019t know existed\u2014could also impact their future use.<\/p>\n

#2. \u201cHe only does it under my watch. He won\u2019t do it when he\u2019s on his own.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Parents often don\u2019t understand the power of the messages they send. You set an example by your own substance use (yes, even beer and cigarettes) and by the extent to which you make it available to your children. We like to think our kids understand the boundaries we set for them, but adolescents\u2019 brains are still developing. When you tell them they can have beer\u2026but only under my watch\u2026they may only hear, \u201cI can have beer.\u201d<\/p>\n

#3. \u201cMy kid doesn\u2019t need help\u2014it was one joint.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even when your kid is just trying things, support is essential. Whether it was vodka, marijuana, Xanax, or heroin, experimenting once often leads to experimenting again and could eventually develop into dependency. We know, for example, that teens who use alcohol before age 15 are four times more likely to abuse alcohol later in life. And teens who use marijuana before age 18 are 4-7 times more likely than adults to develop problem use<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

#4. \u201cWe talked about it. It won\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

One chat with you or even one counseling session may not be enough. Often substance use is an outcropping of an issue (depression, bullying, etc.), brewing beneath the surface. If you don\u2019t help your child deal with the roots of the problem, it will keep growing back. Maintain communication with your child and continue seeking professional support.<\/p>\n

#5. \u201cWe have to quietly deal with this as a family\u2014we don\u2019t need the whole town talking about us.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a community, we must stop talking about drug addiction and alcoholism as \u201cevils\u201d or as problems that need to be \u201clocked up.\u201d It creates stigma that can stifle the brave individuals who might otherwise seek help. At Pillars, we treat addiction as an illness. We know it won\u2019t go away on its own. But with professional help\u2014in our case, with outpatient treatment that doesn\u2019t require you to stay somewhere overnight\u2014we know people can make change.<\/p>\n

If your child is experimenting with drugs or alcohol, you do not need to wait until the problem grows to get help.\u00a0We will support and guide you through the steps to help prevent substance abuse and dependency or treat an existing addiction. You are not alone. Reach out to Pillars Community Health today at 708-PILLARS (708-745-5277) or click here to learn more<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Substances are readily available to our children, whether it\u2019s liquor at a family reunion or prescription pills left over from an injury.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-article"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}