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Posts Tagged ‘Teen Drug Use’

Teen Anger Management

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

By Mart Brenner

Marty Brenner provides insight into Teen Anger ManagementMarty Brenner provides insight into Teen Anger Management

A period often dominated by turbulent emotions, the teenage years is a very critical phase in every individual’s life. True, some teenagers manage to scrape through without any problems and sail smoothly into the next stage of their lives; but there are some who feel the need to manage and control their anger and emotions in order to lead a problem-free life. Teen anger management helps teens to recognize the effects of uncontrolled anger and assists them in managing it better.
Teenagers are highly likely to face pressures from peer-groups, parents, and teachers, and hence, bound to feel frustrated at some time or the other. However, proper teen anger management should be meted to them so that they can deal with the emotion of anger in a positive and constructive way.

Physical abuse, verbal lashings, and other destructive behaviors are some common outlets of anger among teenagers. Even sulking and withdrawing from others are some ways in which teenagers vent their anger. Both the aforementioned outlets are destructive not only to others, but also to themselves. Hence, teen anger management is a basic requirement for every teen that exhibits signs of uncontrolled anger.

The first step towards making an effective teen anger management is helping the teenager to understand the roots of his or her anger. Usually, anger is a result of other factors such as rejection, frustration, failure, pressure, and others. Therefore, it becomes mandatory to understand the underlying causal factor that leads teens to lose control over their anger.

Besides gaining an idea of the causal factor of angry outbursts, parents or counselors should also discuss any problem that is bothering the individual and try to share experiences that can help the teen to think and act positively. Understanding the cause of anger and discussing their problems helps parents or other counselors to suggest and advise teenagers to react to those anger-stimulating factors in some alternate ways.

Anger as an emotion is beyond the control of every human being, and especially teenagers who try and cope up with many pressures in their lives; however, expressing anger in socially acceptable and desirable way is what teen anger management all about.

Newport Academy recognizes the issues that teens have with controlling their anger.  We teach teens new coping skills to better recognize and channel their anger.  You can read more about Marty Brenner at his site.

10 Tips for Talking to Teens about Prescription Drug Abuse

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

With more and more kids experimenting with prescription drugs every day, there is the potential for a nationwide epidemic of abuse, addiction and overdoses on these potentially dangerous medications.  The following tips are designed to help parents engage in helpful, productive conversations with their teenagers about prescription drugs before they become a problem.

  1. Teen DrugsDo your homework.  Parents who enter into a conversation about prescription drugs with their teen need to have an armload of information on their side.  Simply stating “drugs are bad” isn’t going to get the job done.  Spend some time online reading up on the topic before you have that talk.  Some of the best sources online can be found at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association and the White House’s official anti-drug site.
  2. Explain the dangers.  Many kids honestly do not understand the potential dangers of prescription drugs.  They think that because it came from a doctor that it is inherently less harmful than street drugs.  Explain the dangerous similarities between street drugs and prescription drugs.
  3. Get to them early.  Don’t wait for senior year in high school to discuss prescription drug abuse with your kids.  Statistics show that by then there is a strong change they will have already experimented with a variety of drugs, perhaps even as early as middle school.
  4. Be honest.  Don’t make up stories about what happens to kids who use drugs.  Be honest.  The real story is going to be frightening enough.
  5. Tell them how drugs will affect their future.  If the child is in his late teens, then he or she is thinking about life after high school.  Frame your discussion in terms of how prescription drug addiction can lead to health problems or jail time.
  6. Talk about society as a whole.  Many teenagers are going through an idealistic phase during high school.   Tell them how prescription drug addiction negatively impacts society as a whole and they are likely to respond well.
  7. Talk about their friends. For some teenagers the peer group is everything.  Point out how dangerous it would be to get in a car with a friend who is under the influence of prescription medication.
  8. Talk about the side effects.  Graphic descriptions of some of the unwanted side effects of prescription medication (such as vomiting, diarrhea or overdose) can be a deterrent to drug use.
  9. Discuss the Internet and Prescription Drugs with your child.  Tell them to NEVER use the Internet to buy drugs.  In addition to being illegal, the medications could be tampered with or expired.
  10. Don’t wait. Too many parents wait until it is too late to talk to their kids about prescription drug addiction.  Be proactive.   Don’t think that it can’t happen to your child.

© 2009 Newport Academy
Newport Academy is a gender-specific, comprehensive, residential treatment program for teens suffering from substance abuse and co-occurring disorders. If you or your child needs help, please do call us as soon as possible. We are always on call and willing to help if given the opportunity. Please call Newport Academy at 877.628.3367.