Does My teen need rehab? Part 2

Does my teen need rehab?

Five signs your teen might need residential treatment.

In Part One, we discussed the basic levels of care you might find if you decide to seek treatment for your teen. It is important to understand something before moving forward. Only licensed and certified mental health professionals are qualified to diagnose your teen. As a parent you might be sure you know what’s happening, and you may feel certain that you are correct, but you still need a second opinion from someone trained to identify and work with adolescents who need treatment for substance abuse disorders.

Here are 5 signs the experts look for:

Five Signs Your Teen Needs Residential Treatment

1. Repeated Relapse
If your teen tries and fails to stay drug-free, consider sending them to residential treatment. Repeated unsuccessful attempts at quitting drugs likely means your teen needs help: the status quo is unsustainable, and time in residential treatment might be
the answer.

2. Outpatient Treatment Is Not Working
If your teen has tried less intensive treatment without success, it may be time to step up. If outpatient, intensive outpatient, or partial hospitalization programs have not worked, the next step is residential treatment.

3. Need Professional Help
You may have done everything within your power to help your teen get and stay drug- free. But at the end of the day, the fact remains that you are not a trained professional. It’s also unlikely you can dedicate every moment of every day to helping your teen
manage their drug problems. If you’ve tried everything you can, from outpatient to intensive outpatient to partial hospitalization programs, don’t despair. Your next step: pursue a more robust approach to treatment.

4. Dual Diagnosis
Sometimes even a trained therapist cannot unearth an individual’s core emotional issues when drugs are involved. If your teen uses drugs, and repeated attempts at lower levels of care fail, then they might be using drugs to cope with the symptoms of an underlying emotional, behavioral, or mood disorder. If that’s the case, your teen may have what’s known as a dual diagnosis: a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder. For dual diagnosis teens, a period of total detoxification, followed by a period of sobriety, is often the only way to understand what’s really going on with your teenager.

5. Safety
If your teen’s behavior is escalating in a way that creates a safety risk for anyone, do not ignore it. A residential treatment may be appropriate, even if they have not passed through the less intense levels of care yet.

Next Steps: Find A Treatment Center

If you decide a residential treatment program for substance use disorder treatment is a necessary and appropriate step, then it’s time to find a treatment center that matches your family needs.
Take this process seriously because the treatment center you choose can make all the difference.
Your search should be deliberate, thorough, and comprehensive. Look for fully licensed and accredited centers only.
Source Evolve treatment