It’s difficult enough raising adolescent children, and then you discover the reason for their recent behavior issues is due to alcohol abuse or drug abuse.  You cringe at the thought of admitting them to alcohol and drug treatment because, beyond the shock you feel, it seems like yet another burden to tackle.  But it is important, and you know it, and telemedicine may be the solution for your hesitation.

Adolescent alcohol abuse and drug abuse can tear the closest families apart.  It starts with failing grades, behavior problems, and new friends who give parents that “bad feeling”.  A gradual increase of difficult situations explodes when parents discover substance abuse among their youth, and exhaustion generally follows.  So many parents will just want to give up.  Adolescent alcohol and drug treatment seems beyond the breaking point.

Although it is logical to make an attempt at solving a problem, procrastination takes over for most parents of substance abusers due to stigma.  “What will the extended family/friends/neighbors think?”  When they get past that hindering feeling and call an alcohol and drug treatment center, they learn about the time and emotion involved and put it off again.  All the while, their teens are going further down a road toward alcoholism or drug addiction, crime, injury, and possibly death.  Time is of the essence.

Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles offers telemedicine as an answer to both the stigma and time issues.  Teens can attend counseling sessions via video conference from home, using a computer with a webcam.  Parents can attend family meetings in the same manner.  We even have the technology to conduct group sessions over a secured internet connection.  This cuts the time and cost of travel to our locations, and saves you the need to explain the daily family trips to others.

Our providers use the TherapyLiveVisit application, powered by MDLiveCare, which works in any web browser.  If you have a computer with internet access and a webcam, you can use Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or any other browser to access the application.  LiveVisit operates behind several layers of encryption, so you can be certain that your consultations will be completely confidential.  

The term “telemedicine” encompasses all forms of health care including mental health treatment and addiction treatment.  In many cases of youth alcohol abuse and drug abuse, there are co-occurring mental health disorders that had gone previously undetected.  Tarzana Treatment Centers is recognized as a leader in providing mental health treatment to adolescents.  Our telemedicine staff includes addiction counselors and mental health professionals, as well as medical professionals.

Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles provides a full array of health care services including adult and youth alcohol and drug treatment.  We specialize in treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, and have two primary medical care clinics in the San Fernando Valley and Antelope Valley.  If you or a loved one needs help with alcohol dependence, drug addiction, or co-occurring mental health disorders, please call us now at 800-996-1051 or contact us here.

Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, and in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley.

Tolerance, as it relates to alcohol dependence and drug addiction, is often misunderstood by many in the general public.  In the manner that drug and alcohol tolerance functions, it can be a safety mechanism to the body and, at the same time, deadly.  This makes awareness of the subject critical for anyone who engages in alcohol abuse or drug abuse, as well as those in recovery.

It can easily be assumed that tolerance means that an individual can drink more alcohol without getting drunk, or handle drug use in a seemingly controlled manner.  With this assumption comes the belief that these “abilities” are an example of the natural differences that exist from one individual to another.  While this is partially true, the nature of alcohol and drug tolerance is much more complicated.

Alcohol tolerance is the example with which most people can relate.  Consider the amount of alcohol you need to drink before you feel the effects, or “buzzed”.  Let’s say this is 2 beers.  If you drink 2 beers every day, over time you will feel less of an effect.  If you want to feel the same effect, you must drink more alcohol.  The amount of alcohol needed for the same feeling will continue to increase as you add more alcohol.  

The same concept works with drugs.  Alcohol abuse or drug abuse can result from tolerance since individuals will chase that feeling by drinking or using more on each occasion.  If the cycle continues with regular daily alcohol or drug intake, the body can become physically dependent and alcoholism or drug addiction is the result.  

On this road to addiction that we just followed, the brain has protected the body from overdose, with tolerance, by adjusting to the higher levels of substance use.  This benefit of drug tolerance can become a dangerous consequence, though, for recovering individuals who relapse.  The addicted brain still needs a large amount of drugs for an effect, but the body returns to a lower tolerance of what is essentially a poison.

At the time of first use on a relapse, the brain will dictate the most recent amount of drugs used to get a desired effect.  If the formerly recovering addict is not careful, this amount can easily cause a drug overdose or even be fatal.  Many drug addicts are not aware of this fact, and will even ignore warnings from fellow drug users because they don’t realize the consequences they face.

While alcoholics are less likely to overdose on alcohol during first use on a relapse, they may experience what is known as a lack of tolerance.  At this point, a drunken feeling may result from only 1 drink.  Lack of tolerance can actually occur with anyone who drinks alcohol, but it is typically coupled with alcohol dependence.  Of course, that 1 drink will still not be enough to satisfy alcoholics and they can become a danger to themselves through inebriation and alcohol’s effect on the body.

This information is good to share with teens, friends in recovery, or anyone you may know who engages in alcohol abuse or drug abuse.  Too many see tolerance as a benefit both early in substance use and in addiction.  Tolerance is explained in effective alcohol and drug treatment as part of addiction education groups to prevent accidental overdoses among those who may relapse.  Bringing this awareness to the general public may save even more lives.

Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles provides youth alcohol and drug treatment and addiction education.  We specialize in treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, and have two primary medical care clinics in the San Fernando Valley and Antelope Valley.  If you or a loved one needs help with alcohol dependence, drug addiction, or co-occurring mental health disorders, please call us now at 800-996-1051 or contact us here.

Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, and in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley.

The holidays are a happy time for most.  But for those suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction this time can be challenging, stressful, and downright depressing.  Thus it is important for loved ones to be aware of how the holidays affect those who suffer, but to enjoy the celebrations and family gatherings just the same.

Parties and gatherings can be a challenge for individuals in recovery.  Alcohol seems to be everywhere in the eyes of an alcoholic, from television to the glass in the hand of those that don’t normally drink.  Fond memories can overshadow the misery alcohol brought to their lives, and open the door to relapse.

It is also a time of year when distant friends and relatives are reunited.  This can bring stress in several ways.  An old drinking or drug using friend may call for a visit.  Since the damage of alcoholism and addiction has a wide reach, someone who has been harmed in the past may show up at a gathering.  Recovering individuals may find a reason to drink or use, and those not in recovery might go on a heavy binge.    

Holiday festivities, movies, and music can conjure up memories of lost friends and better times for alcoholics and drug addicts.  It is common for them to dwell on these memories rather than just move on, causing a feeling of “if only…” and a form of self-loathing.  Using the tools of recovery when these feelings arise will often help.

Some degree of depression, from “the blahs” to major depression, is bound to set in for those who believe they are bad people due to the feeling of self-loathing.  This is a common reason for relapse, increased alcohol or drug abuse, or for some folks in recovery to simply stay away from social situations.

Loved ones may become angry with alcoholics and drug addicts, join them in their misery, or even offer them a drink, drug, or tobacco to feel better.  The healthy response is in fact to let them be and enjoy the festive holiday season.  Loved ones have no control in dealing with the sufferer’s state of mind.  It may not be easy, so attending a support group like Al-Anon can help.

There are many resources on the internet for dealing with alcoholism and drug addiction during the holidays.  The excerpt below is from a discussion transcript posted on The Washington Post website.  The full Q & A session contains a wide variety of good advice for those who suffer and their loved ones.

-- Begin external content --

Arlington, Va.: My dad is an alcoholic, sober for about about five years now. Prior to this, we had thought he was still on the wagon, but he was hiding alcohol all around the house in flavored water bottles. Both my brother (28) and I (26) live away from home, and during the holidays, when we get together, it's tough because we always wonder if he has fallen off the wagon again, and we snoop the house inconspicuously. Will there ever be a time when we trust him again? We feel guilty traipsing around the house. My mom is at home, and she wonders/snoops too. FWIW, he was sober from basically my birth until I was 14/15, and that's when he fell off the wagon unbeknownst to us until five years ago.

Dr. Harris Stratyner: Alcoholism is a disease. It's primary, progressive, chronic and, if untreated, fatal. It makes liars of those people who fall victim to the disease unless they actively work on staying sober -- treatment, 12-step programs, etc. Instead of going behind your dad's back, realize that relapse is often part of this disease and speak to your dad about your concerns.

-- Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/12/05/DI2008120502603.html --

Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles provides family services as part of our commitment to integrated behavioral healthcare in alcohol and drug treatment.  If you or a loved one needs help for alcohol dependence or drug addiction, please call us now at 800-996-1051 or contact us here.

Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, and in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley.

Undeniably, alcoholism and drug addiction not only affects the suffering individual; but it also seriously damages those people closest to them, particularly their family members and friends. Addiction is a serious chronic disease. More often than not it is the family members that are left trying to desperately stop the downward spiral of a dependence on alcohol or drugs. Family members have often decided to make a plea for help and appeal for change in what commonly referred to as an intervention.
 
The word “intervention” in an alcohol and drug treatment context is used to describe a meeting in which a person with an alcohol dependence or drug addiction problem is confronted by friends and family members in a final plea for help with their addiction. The intervention is an organized meeting coordinated by family members in conjunction with friends, significant others, mental health professionals, pastors, or a drug treatment provider.

The participants gather to discuss their loved one and the impact of the disease in what is also known as a pre-intervention meeting. The purpose of the intervention gathering is not only to develop a plan for obtaining help for alcoholism or drug addiction, but also to offer support to the addict.  Participants go around the room and share statements of the numerous ways in which family alcoholism or drug addiction has affected their lives.

An intervention can set the stage for awareness about the seriousness of alcoholism or drug addiction and the negative impact on everyone involved. It is important to realize that alcoholics and addicts may be defensive and resistant to help. For this reason, mental health professionals and treatment providers can assist in counseling the individual. An intervention can also provide the much needed structure and resources for getting help.

You are not alone we can help! If you or a loved one needs help we urge you to please call Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles now 800-996-1051 or contact us here.


Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, and in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley.