Every day, millions of teens say yes to drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography and abnormal eating patterns.
Every day, millions of teens enter into a lifestyle that could lead to addictions, depression and suicide.
And every day, parents, youth leaders and pastors continue in naïveté and denial, grasping onto the idea that “it could never happen to us.”
But just as Walter, a deacon at Wilsonville Baptist Church in Shelby Baptist Association, learned, denial of the facts is not enough to keep your child out of harm’s way.
The 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health administered by the Department of Health and Human Services reported that 27.9 percent of people ages 12–20 had drunk alcohol in the past month and 9.5 percent of people ages 12–17 were illicit drug users.
But for many, what begins as one use, one drink, one time turns into an addiction.
In an article by TeenPaths.org, a nonprofit organization seeking to help families of struggling and troubled teens, addiction is defined as “any behavior that is used to produce gratification, escape from internal discomfort and/or can be engaged in compulsively.”
When a teen first demonstrates negative behavior, it is because he or she has chosen to do so, the article explains. “However, once the behavior elicits instant gratification, it encourages repetition,” which then leads to a formation of pathways in the brain, creating a physical addiction.
The addictive disorder is characterized by:
- loss of the ability to choose freely whether to stop or continue
- continuation of the behavior despite adverse consequences
- placing more importance on the addiction than other areas of life
“Trying to make a positive change at this point is like trying to get a river to overflow its bank,” the article says.
“It requires a flood of new positive stimuli on a 24-hour, seven-day schedule in order to encourage some working choices, which can create new brain signal pathways and let some grass grow over the old ones.”
So the idea is to create more positive outlets in which teens can engage, said Caroline Nichols, licensed certified social worker and counselor at the Samaritan Counseling Center in Birmingham and for Judson College in Marion.
“Churches could hold some focus groups if they are really concerned or feeling out of the loop about teenage and adolescent culture,” Nichols said.
“Bring the kids in. Most are willing to talk about what’s going on. They want to be heard. They want to have a voice.”
No matter the struggle your teens are facing, take time to be educated on the issues, said Tait Windham, youth pastor of First Baptist Church, Butler, in Choctaw Baptist Association.
Dealing with drugs, alcohol, sex and eating disorders is “obviously a bigger problem than people tend to think,” Windham said. “Most kids do face it.”
To find help near you, visit www.addictionsearch.com/treatment/AL/alabama.html.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Walter’s name changed for anonymity
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