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Facts and Information | Help! & FAQ

Facts and Information

Facts about... TRANQUILIZERS | Myths and Facts About Addiction and Treatment

Facts about... TRANQUILIZERS

• Lack of coordination.
• Altered speech, confusion, coma.
• Withdrawal effects: tremors, altered speech, rapid heart rate, blood pressure drop, headache.
• Mood swings, tension, nightmares.
• Loss of sexual function, apathy.
• Death from overdose.

WHEN TO GET HELP…

• Do you find it hard to cope without a pill?
• Is your work or school performance affected by your drug use?
• Are you having problems with family and friends?
• Do you use a variety of drugs?

FACT:
Tranquilizers are the most widely prescribed psychotherapeutic agents in the world, and are most involved in suicide attempts and accidental overdoses.

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Myths and Facts About Addiction and Treatment

Myth: Addiction is a bad habit, the result of moral weakness and over-indulgence.

• Fact: Addiction is a chronic, life-threatening condition, like hypertension, atherosclerosis and adult diabetes.

• Fact: Addiction has roots in genetic susceptibility, social circumstance, and personal behavior.

• Fact: Certain drugs are highly addictive, rapidly causing biochemical and structural changes in the brain. Others can be used for longer periods of time before they begin to cause inescabable cravings and compulsive use.

Myth: If an addict has enough willpower, he or she can stop abusing alcohol and using drugs.

• Fact: Few people addicted to alcohol and other drugs can simply stop using them no matter how strong their inner resolve. Most need one or more courses of structured substance abuse treatment to reduce or end their dependence on alcohol and other drugs.

Myth: Many people relapse, so treatment obviously does not work.

• Fact: Like virtually any other medical treatment, addiction treatment cannot guarantee lifelong health. Relapse, often a part of the recovery process, is always possible – and treatable. Even if a person never achieves perfect abstinence, addiction treatment can reduce the number and duration of relapses, minimize related problems such as crime and poor overall health, improve the individuals ability to function in daily life and strengthen the individual to better cope with the next temptation or craving. These improvements, reduce the social and economic costs of addiction.

Myth: We have reached the limits of what we can do to treat addiction.

• Fact: The more we learn about addiction, the more effective treatment becomes. Matching clients to the services they most need, while supporting continuous and focused engagement in treatment is imperative. Today’s treatment providers are better able to do this than ever before.

Myth: People with alcohol and other drug problems get sent to 28-day treatment programs, where they dry out and emerge new individuals, cured of their problems.

• Fact: Treatment is provided in many different settings, in many different ways, for different lengths of time. It is important to provide the most appropriate mix of services and settings for each client based on an assessment of individual needs and cultural relevance.

• Fact: Treatment is provided in both outpatient and inpatient settings, with different levels of intensity. Residential treatment is provided in the form of short-term treatment and therapeutic communities. Outpatient treatment is available in three general formats: 1) intensive day treatment; 2) intensive outpatient treatment; and 3) traditional outpatient treatment. General phases of treatment include: 1) detoxification; 2) rehabilitation; 3) continuing care; and 4) relapse prevention.

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Help! & FAQ

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The following questions have been devised for parents who suspect a child is having trouble with alcohol. Symptoms may vary with each young person, but there are certain universal tipoffs. Here are a few:

1. If your child has had a substance abuse assessment, does his/her drinking behavior match any of the warning signs referred to in the screening devices?

2. Is your liquor supply dwindling? If your child is abusing alcohol, your stock might evaporate mysteriously or turn into colored water. Unless you keep an inventory of your liquor, such practices could go on undetected for months.

3. Has your child’s personality changed noticeably? Does he/she exhibit sudden mood swings, such as out-of-the-ordinary irritability, giddiness, depression, unprovoked hostility?

4. Is he/she becoming less responsible? About doing chores, for example, getting home on time, following instructions and household rules?

5. Has interest waned in school work, school or extra-curricular activities, athletics? Are grades dropping? A frequent hint is a lowering of the level of performance in school. The child may become truant or drop out altogether. Negativity sets in; nothing goes right.

6. Does your child seem to be losing old friends and hanging out with a drinking and/or partying group? All social life for your problem drinker begins to center around drinking, occasions for drinking and alcohol-abusing friends, but trades down on former friends and seeks out those with similar drinking habits. A young alcoholic must do this, to justify his or her own alcohol abuse.

7. Are you missing money or objects that could be converted to cash? A young alcoholic has an increasingly expensive addiction to maintain. Eventually the need for alcohol overcomes any guilt about stealing from family members, friends or anyone else.

8. Do you hear consistently from neighbors, friends or others about your child’s drinking or questionable behaviors? An alcoholic youngster’s reputation suffers. Listen to these reports. There may be substance to them.

9. Is your child in trouble with the law? Even one arrest for an alcohol-related offense is a red flag that may well signal alcoholism. Kids that don’t have drinking problems don’t get arrested for crimes or other offenses committed while drinking. If a young person is arrested for an alcohol- related offense or was drinking at the time when he or she committed a crime, you can bet the rent there were similar other occasions when he or she was not caught.

10. Does your child turn off to talks about alcohol or alcoholism? Adolescent alcohol abusers "stick the bananas in their ears" rather than hear anything that might interfere with their drinking habits. The non-abuser kid doesn’t care one way or the other.

11. Does your child get into fights with other youngsters? Problem-drinking youths are apt to have altercations with others – both young people and adults. Over seventy percent of all beatings, stabbings, assaults take place when one or both participants have been drinking.

12. Are there signs of medical or emotional problems? Be on the lookout for ulcers, high blood pressure, acute indigestion, gastritis, depression, liver dysfunction, kidney problems – and, of course, injuries from alcohol-related accidents.

13. Does she/he drive irresponsibly? Those in trouble with alcohol are known hazards on the highway. They may also lie about where they are taking the car, make excuses for not getting it home on time and even hotwire it late at night for joyrides with friends.

14. Is your child generally dishonest? Not telling the truth goes hand in hand with problem drinking. For young alcoholics, lying becomes so automatic that they come up with fibs even when they don’t need them, when the truth would have served them just as well.

15. Does your child volunteer to clean up after adult cocktail parties, but neglect other chores? This sounds like a small point, but it is surprising how many young drinkers use this ploy, and how slow parents are to catch on. Draining half-empty glasses after an adult gathering is a cheap high.

16. Do you find obvious signs, like a stash of bottles in the bedroom or garage? Parents of young alcoholics are always astounded at what they find during a thorough housekeeping. Kids that don’t have a problem with alcohol don’t make a practice of hiding bottles under their mattresses, in the speakers of their stereos, behind insulation in garages, or in the water tanks of toilets. Even the ones who are the foggiest from drinking manage to be ingenious about hiding places.

17. Do you detect physical signs – alcohol on the breath for instance? One adolescent went home almost every night for six months reeking so strongly that his parents could have chinned themselves on his breath. They had been too busy to notice. They finally got the message when a school counselor advised them that their son had been suspended from school for being drunk in class. Polydrug users (those who mix drugs, usually including alcohol) exhibit other telltale signs, too – like a change in the size of pupils in the eyes, hyper-activity or sluggishness, slurred or incoherent speech. These are all clues which should not be ignored.

18. Does your child spend a lot of time alone closed in a bedroom or recreation room, bursting forth now and then to disappear out the door? ("Where are you going?" "Out.") Does he or she seem to resent your questions about destinations and activities? A certain amount of this mystery, aloofness and resentment is, of course, typical of adolescence. When it is carried to an extreme, you should be aware that it could mean problems with alcohol or other drugs.

19. Has your child’s relationship with other family members deteriorated? A young person’s ability to relate to others effectively is impaired by alcohol, and the first relationships to suffer are those within the family. A young alcoholic will try to avoid family gatherings – occasions he or she once enjoyed – particularly if faced with doting or critical relatives whose expectations often make the young person feel guilty and uncomfortable.

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1. Do you lose time from work due to drinking?

2. Is drinking making your home life unhappy?

3. Do you drink because you are shy with other people?

4. Is drinking affecting your reputation?

5. Have you ever felt remorse after drinking?

6. Have you had financial difficulties as a result of drinking?

7. Do you turn to inferior companions and environments when drinking?

8. Does your drinking make you careless of your family’s welfare?

9. Has your ambition decreased since drinking?

10. Do you crave a drink at a definite time daily?

11. Do you want a drink the next morning?

12. Does drinking cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?

13. Has your efficiency decreased since drinking?

14. Is drinking jeopardizing your job or business?

15. Do you drink to escape from worries or trouble?

16. Do you drink alone?

17. Have you ever had a loss of memory because of drinking?

18. Has your physician ever treated you for drinking?

19. Do you drink to build up your self-confidence?

20. Have you ever been to a hospital or institution because of drinking?

If you have answered YES to any one of these questions, there is a DEFINITE WARNING that you may be an alcoholic.
If you have answered YES to any two, the CHANCES ARE that you are an alcoholic.

If you have answered YES to three or more, you are DEFINITELY AN ALCOHOLIC.

Does someone I know have a drug problem?

1. Frequent absence from work or school for unjustified reasons.

2. Poor personal hygiene.

3. Unexplained weight loss.

4. Thinning or dry & brittle hair.

5. Pawning/selling items of significant value/meaning.

6. Change in friends.

7. Change in recreational activities.

8. Isolation from family & friends.

9. Failing grades.

10. Lack of interest in school & extra-curricular activities.

11. Pinpoint or bloodshot eyes.

12. Change in personality.

13. Mood swings.

14. Change in eating habits.

15. Changes in sleep patterns.

16. Missing items from the home.

17. Frequent outbursts of anger or unexplained crying.

18. Paranoid behavior.

19. Lack of regard for rules, i.e. curfews etc.

20. Runny nose, constant sniffing, paint or toxic fumes on clothing, chills, frequent unexplained sweating, dry mouth.

If you answered yes to any of the above questions you or someone you know may have a drug problem. It is imperative that you get help or intervene immediately to avoid further use & disruption.

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Twenty Four Questions for Family Members

1. Have you lost sleep because of a problem drinker?

2. Do most of your thoughts revolve around the drinker or problems that arise because of his drinking?

3. Do you make him/her promise things he/she may not be able to keep?

4. Do you make threats you do not follow through on?

5. Do you at times love, and at other times hate, the alcoholic?

6. Do you mark, hide, dilute and/or empty the drinker’s alcohol?

7. Do you believe everything will be all right if the drinker quit or cut down?

8. Do you feel alone, fearful, anxious most of the time?

9. Are you beginning to dislike yourself, or lose your self-respect?

10. Do you sometimes question the accuracy of your thinking or your sanity?

11. Do you feel responsible and guilty for the drinker’s actions?

12. Do you try to conceal, deny, or protect the drinker?

13. Have you kept alone, or out of the public situations because of being embarrassed about things the drinker has done or will do?

14. Have you taken over responsibilities the drinker would ordinarily do?

15. Do you feel responsible for the family affairs, including bills and finances?

16. Do you feel the need to justify or rationalize your actions?

17. Do you feel smug or self-righteous compared to the drinker?

18. Do the children take sides?

19. Do the kids sometimes wonder why you can’t control the others drinking?

20. Do the kids excuse the drinker because they know the drinker’s actions are because of alcohol, but then wonder what is wrong with you?

21. Are the kids having problems with authority figures, acting out sexually, and letting grades slip?

22. Do you feel utterly defeated; that nothing you can say or do will solve the problem?

23. Does the drinker sometimes repulse you?

24. Do you sometimes use sex to make the drinker conform?

If you answered "YES" to two of these, you may want to look at the alcohol in your relationship.

If you answered "YES" to three of these, you have some problems due to alcohol in your relationship.

If you answered "YES" to four of these, you may be in a relationship with an alcoholic.

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Top 10 Ways to NOT STOP a Kid from Drinking or Using Other Drugs

1. ENABLING: Rescuing our children from the consequences of the alcohol and other drug use. Bailing them out of jail; getting them out of trouble at school; calling in sick for them; making excuses for their inappropriate behavior; allowing them to use at home; not confronting their use; giving them money and not finding out how they use it; just not wanting to be bothered.

2. DENIAL: "My child wouldn’t do that!" – even when there is evidence that she/he is using. Denial does not make the problem go away, it merely prevents parents or anyone else from taking action.

3. REACTING: A kid experiments one time and a parent grounds them for a year, or a parent begins following them to school and every time they leave the house.

4. THREATS: "I’ll beat you within an inch of your life…!" or "You’ll never leave this house till you’re 21…!" or "I’ll break every bone in your body…!" This doesn’t keep kids away from alcohol and other drugs – but it does keep kids away from parents.

5. SCARE TACTICS: "If you use drugs, you’ll overdose and die!" or "You’ll get kicked out of school!" or "You’ll end up a prostitute!" or "You’ll end up in jail!" or "You’ll get AIDS!" Kids don’t believe it will happen to them. Besides, did you ever pay attention to your parents when they said such things? They may just say – "Have these things happened to you?"

6. BRIBERY: "I’ll buy you a car if you don’t drink or use other drugs." This merely puts parents in a position to be manipulated. To get their first car some adolescents will promise anything!

7. MINIMIZING: "All kids drink once in awhile don’t they?" or "He only had one!" or "She doesn’t get drunk very often." Or "At least she’s not on hard drugs." This is the step after denial, and leads to the following step…

8. PROVIDING ALCOHOL OR OTHER DRUGS FOR KIDS: Some parents who believe kids will drink anyway feel it is better to let them drink at home. Some will provide the keg of beer for their parties. That keeps your kids safe from an accident, but what about their friends? Do you realize you will be held 100% accountable and responsible? If someone is killed, do you wish to give up everything you now have plus everything you may have in the future? What if a child overdoses at such a party? If you know this is going on – report it. If you’re doing it – stop it.

9. GUILT: "If you loved me you wouldn’t use alcohol!" or "I would just lay down and die from shame and embarrassment if I ever found out you use drugs!" This doesn’t stop kids from using, but it does keep them away from parents.

10. FIGHTING BETWEEN PARENTS: That is how these kids take the focus off of them. They have many ways of doing this. One is, "You’re never home!" or "I’m not the only one, remember when you…?" or one parent will take the kids side. Or one parent starts blaming the other for what is happening. At any one of these points the kid can do whatever he wants.

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