Substance abuse is an epidemic in this country. Studies report that one in five children/adolescents has an emotional or behavioral disorder; that one in ten has a substance abuse disorder and only about 23% suffering from a mental health disorder get treatment. [i] A 1999 study of the population aged 12 years and older who were civilian and non-institutionalized found that 52% of those with a lifetime history of alcohol abuse or dependence, also had a lifetime history of a mental health disorder. When the focus was drug abuse the number suffering from both went to 59%. [ii]
When a person has both a mental health disorder and a substance abuse disorder, professionals refer to this as having a "dual diagnosis," or suffering from "co-occurring disorders." Evaluations of adolescents in substance abuse treatment have revealed that between 50-90% are suffering from co-occurring disorders. [iii] And since 2005, being adolescent and having a "dual-diagnosis" is now considered the norm. [iv]
In drug court kids suffer from depression to post traumatic stress disorder. The types of mental health problems existing in drug court and the dependency system are legion. There are street drugs like meth and marijuana, but there are also prescription drugs, mushrooms, alcohol and abuse of cough medicine and inhalants. One young lady I interviewed liked to "huff" or inhale the gas from whip cream containers. At the time, after five years in-program, I hadn't heard of that one before.
Where does this type of dysfunction originate? What is it that kids are trying to relieve? And when I talk about substance abuse in these writings I am not including, caffeine, tobacco, sugar, salt, high-fructose corn syrup or some of the other chemicals that might be considered as "drugs" or "highly addictive" substances that we consume in our society. What if those substances were added to the numbers? What would the percentages look like then?
The Need for Healing
One way we describe the behavior of addiction is that the kids are "self-medicating." Self-Medicating. This term simply means that the child is suffering some pain and is trying to alleviate this pain by the illicit use of "drugs" or other substances.
Generally, the "pain" we are referring to is now collectively described as "trauma." About trauma, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary explains:
"Trauma is the Greek word for "wound". Although the Greeks used the term only for physical injuries, nowadays trauma is just as likely to refer to emotional wounds.The psychological reaction to emotional trauma now has an established name: post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. It usually occurs after an extremely stressful event, such as wartime combat, a natural disaster, or sexual or physical abuse..."
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