Drug and alcohol addiction is very common during this decade. Why is this? Well in my eyes I believe because of society. Yes, we are told that drugs and alcohol are bad, but I feel that many use these things to be a rebel and go against what society is telling us. I also believe that because so many people use drugs that many others want to fit in by using them. In the article Does Teen Drug Rehab Cure Addiction or Create It by Mia Szalavitz, we read about drug rehab and how many feel it is not helping. This is because many that go to rehab feel it is only increasing their addiction. When in group therapy, patients discuss what they've done, not how to change their past. This creates images in the patients head of other types of drugs they can use.
I know a couple of people that went to rehab. I have heard stories about what they have done there and I also know what happened to them when they came home. One of my really good friends throughout high school was sent to a rehab. After completing her time there she returned home, only to continue what she was doing before she left. Again her parents sent her back to rehab. Now she is sober. I feel that when she was sent to the first rehab she wasn't taken away from what she knew; she was only told what not to do. During her stay at the second rehab she was in a wilderness, completely secluded from society. Here she learned how she could handle life without the addiction. I believe that a choice to change is made by the person them self. They have to be convinced that they can change and get rid of there addictions.
First off, I'm sorry about your friend. That must have been scary for both of you. I completely agree with your point that patients 'discuss what they've done, not how to change their past'. That's so true, because it's basically all just a retelling of their lives, and even if the intention is to show others how to learn from their mistakes, i feel like it just gives new patients ideas on what to do when they get out. In patient down-time there's no way they don't get together and talk about their best trips or their favorite thing to do when they're high, etc. I think the seclusion program is really interesting and probably a great idea. I'm glad your friend is sober and that it worked for her. I hope it works for other teenagers too.
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