The prevalence of teens using alcohol continues to rise, as does the rate of alcohol dependency in teenagers.

When a teen struggles with alcohol dependency or addiction, he/she may feel alone in the fight. And with loneliness and isolation being one of the leading reasons people give for turning to alcohol in the first place, this lonely feeling can exacerbate the use.

When people are dealing with alcohol addiction and need support it can be difficult to find resources for help. Help always seems to be readily available until the moment you are looking for it. It can be especially difficult for teenagers to seek out help, since peer pressure is one of the many reasons a teen would start drinking in the first place. The teen would be less likely to seek help for fear of appearing weak or being cast away from their peer group.

When a teen seeks out help for alcohol-related issues, they will assuredly encounter several types of services, and finding the right match for their needs can be daunting. Patience is needed to get the right service to fit the teen.

Services are designed to address the two types of addiction: the treatment of physical dependency, where the body is used to having alcohol in the system and needs more of it to feel “normal”, or treatment of psychological dependency, where the mind is responsible for feeling like the teen needs alcohol to cope with daily life.

Physical dependency requires, more often than not, a detoxification (detox) program in order to rid the body of its need for alcohol and help deal with withdrawal symptoms. A detox program is often the first of many steps to recovery. Depending on the severity of the addiction, detox can be done in an outpatient setting (lower to mid-level severity) or inpatient setting (for more severe addiction and/or patients with potentially life-threatening conditions as a result of the addiction, including suicidal and homicidal patients). In either setting, the program may include assessments, medications (to help manage withdrawal symptoms), and counseling/education.

For Psychological dependency, there are several options, almost all utilizing some form of counseling to treat the dependence and, often, the underlying issues, such as depression and suicidal ideation. These options fall into one of two broad categories: Outpatient or Inpatient.

Outpatient:

There are a wide variety of outpatient services available to teens with alcohol problems. The services are designed to offer counseling and support of the alcohol use, as well as the treatment of the problems the teen might be facing. These could include issues such as stress, family or relationship problems, anxiety, depression, or any other emotional concern.

Individual counseling or therapy works one-to-one with the teen, usually in one-hour sessions, discussing these issues. This is usually done in a therapist’s office, or in a treatment facility. Group therapy involves several peers with similar problems supporting each other, and discussing approaches to create and maintain a healthy, sober lifestyle. Groups are conducted in a therapeutic environment, such as a treatment center, or in a public meeting place, such as a church or community center. Family therapy is useful when the teen’s family has been affected by the alcohol use, or when the family may have contributed to the alcohol abuse. Family therapy provides an open, honest, and confidential environment for the entire family to discuss the way they have been impacted by the alcohol use, as well as reinforce the support the family is willing to provide the teen during recovery. As with individual therapy, this can be accomplished in an office or treatment center.

A more aggressive approach to addiction could be necessary in some instances. In that case, a combined outpatient approach may be needed. This approach would include several of the previously mentioned services used in conjunction with each other. It may be called “Intensive Outpatient Therapy,” or “Blended Care,” or something else, but it uses multiple approaches and involved different parts of the teens’ lives (family, school, etc).

Inpatient:

Inpatient treatment could be used for any number of reasons, but often it is for more serious addiction problems. In an inpatient program, the teen would spend all day and night in the program for the necessary length of time. And while different inpatient settings may have different average lengths of stay, both short-term and long-term inpatient programs are geared toward the individual’s needs, not a set number of “treatment days.” In other words, the teen may stay in treatment as long as he/she needs.

The services offered within an inpatient setting are similar to the outpatient services, though more intense and readily available. Inpatient services also have trained staff available at all hours of the day to help deal with immediate concerns. The treatment there would focus on the addiction itself, as well as the various reasons behind the addiction. As stated earlier, the reasons for alcohol use and abuse vary widely, but are extremely important to address in treatment.

Regardless of the type of treatment, taking the first step is sometimes the hardest part. First, identifying the presence of a problem and admitting that the teen needs help can be difficult to accept. Once it has occurred, however, getting help with the problem (first from a family member, friend, or someone else, and then from professionals) is the most important step to recovery and gaining control of the teen’s life.