Early Warning Signs of Teen Substance Abuse

Preventing addiction from occurring to your teen is a monumental task for any parent. The teen years are filled with adjustments to:  hormones, mood swings, a desire for closer relationships with peers rather than family, and the on-set of the emotional turmoil that maturing, and bodily physical changes trigger. Knowing early warning signs can be critical in prevention and intervention.

Substance Abuse Effects the Developing Teen Brain and Health

Before you communicate with your teen about substance abuse, it’s crucial that you familiarize yourself with the effects of teen drug use and abuse on their brain, and health, both mental and physical.  Recent studies of the teenage brain indicate that during growth spurts, both physical and intellectual, specific pleasure centers develop much more rapidly than the risk-assessment, analytic thought processes, focus, and thought efficiency. Teens have an acute sense of invulnerability because their prefrontal cortex has not fully developed. Their coping skills and resilience to daily stress, and social or educational challenges, are not well developed during this maturation process.

It is imperative that teens maintain a healthy lifestyle.  Their brains are often more apt to react impulsively, emotionally, aggressively, and even illogically, to new and different experiences in their environments during these years.  Sleep is vital to their growth and well-being.  Substance abuse interrupts normal sleep cycles, and is often the cause of liver damage, heart disease, HIV, lung infection, and even cancer.

Why Teens Choose to Use Drugs

It is critical that parents comprehend what research clearly indicates: the teen years are highly stressful as an innate desire for self-discovery, risk taking, social acceptance, excelling in academics or sports, and having fun, reaches an intensity which they have never experienced. Teens have their own, very personal reasons for experimenting with drugs, and knowing what motivates this risky usage during these tumultuous years, is an integral part of teaching your teen the coping skills to avoid addiction.

Partnership for a Drug-Free America conducted a study in 2017, seeking the most significant and motivating reasons for adolescent legal or illegal drug usage.  The findings from this study confirm the following:

• 73% use to deal with school stress
• 65% use to feel more confident about their self-image and social status
• Use to self-medicate while dealing with depression, moody disorders and anxiety
• (40%) use without thought of risks, seeking prescription drugs as a safer abuse
• Use by easy access to numerous substances like marijuana or meth at school, or other places where peers gather

 

Early Warning Signs of Substance Abuse

One of the most formidable experiences in a parent’s life is the realization, and or suspicion, that their teen might be using and abusing substances such as alcohol, marijuana, methamphetamines, or even prescription medications. There are warnings signs, and although your child will always have an infinite number of excuses, educating yourself to identify these signs, is crucial to engaging in positive interaction to provide the help they may need.

The early warning signs include:

• A significant drop in academic performance
• Extreme changes in friends, physical appearance, and sleeping habits.
• Withdrawal from family activities and interaction
• Becoming hostile, aggressive and defiant
• Frequent instability of emotions and mood swings
• Decreased interest in favorite activities
• Becomes very uncommunicative, secretive
• Exhibits irresponsible behavior and poor judgement
• Sudden appetite for “munchies”
• Disheveled appearance
• Blood-shot eyes, flushed cheeks
• Short term memory loss
• Hyperactivity or lethargic behavior
• Inability to focus or follow instructions
• Sudden weight loss or gain
• Nose bleeds or runny nose
• Constant scratching of skin
• Pinpoint pupils or burns on fingers
• Finding paraphernalia such as smoking devices, balloons, wrappers or vials
• Missing medications, cigarettes or alcohol

Not every sign is a symptom of substance abuse. Adolescent behavior is a time when mental health issues surface and an imbalance of hormones can play a part in changing behavior. However, when a number of these warning signs are present, the probability of substance abuse is more likely.

Motivate Your Teen to Change if Necessary

Every teenager will test the boundaries put in place by responsible, involved, and caring parents. Showing your child that your love and commitment to them is strong, even when it’s being rigorously tested, gives them the gift of” self-worth”, which is priceless.  Stay calm and strong as you ask questions which let them know you care about their thoughts and feelings.

Remember that you are not a super-hero, and therefore, you cannot fix their addictions or relieve every stress and sad feeling. Discussing their addiction or usage without anger or blame is an enormously effective tool.  Listening is vital.  Getting professional help for your teen will put in place a support system that understands the problem, better than a parent could, and will give them the tools and resources to make a change to sobriety. Setting up consequences and expectations that are consistent for dealing with addiction, will help the entire family cope and move forward.

Until recently, when your teen was out of sight, you had no idea what they were doing.  Any struggle or crisis they had, left you with only a reactive response.  Today’s latest technology, the Fipple app, allows you to be proactive in keeping your teen safe.  By monitoring their keystrokes for warning signals and keywords, Fipple alerts parents if mentions of drugs, alcohol, parties, or other custom parameters are detected in your teen’s texting.

With Fipple, parents now can take proactive measures to access actions and events before a crisis occurs, to save lives and deter teen substance abuse.