Teen Alcohol Abuse: Warning Signs and Treatment Options

By Jill Gonzalez

People who begin drinking in their early teens are 50 percent more likely to develop an addiction to alcohol as adults, according to the National Institutes of Health.

In addition, this demographic has an increased chance of developing an addiction at a younger age, and of eventually developing a chronic dependence on alcohol. These findings are significant because they indicate that teen alcohol use may affect the developing brain in such a way that it ultimately makes teens more susceptible to alcohol addiction.

Early drinking is classified as drinking that begins by the age of 16. Not only is early drinking associated with later alcohol abuse and addiction, it is also connected to chronic, lifelong alcohol abuse, which tends to plague a person throughout his or her life.

Signs and Symptoms of Teen Alcohol Use

There are a variety of signs and symptoms that may develop when someone is abusing alcohol. In order to properly diagnose early drinking in your teen or pre-teen, you need to be aware of what to look for:

• Weight loss
• Redness in the face, particularly the cheeks
• Blackouts
• Unexplained upset stomach (or sore stomach)
• Marked changes in behavior, health and appearance
• Difficulty in school
• Alcohol in the home that starts disappearing without explanation

In addition to being aware of the physical signs and symptoms of alcohol use, you should also be aware of the mental or emotional signs that may become evident over time:

• Increased anger, irritability or agitation
• Unusual displays of crying or other emotions that seem a bit out of place or extreme
• Avoiding activities where he or she will not be able to drink
• Insomnia or oversleeping
• Unexplained and/or excessive absences from school

If you know the quirks of your child's personality, as well as his or her general behavior patterns in school and social activities, then it will be much easier for you to pick up on even small idiosyncrasies in behavior patterns.

Dealing with a Teen who Drinks Alcohol

If you find out that your teen is abusing alcohol, you will probably encounter some difficulty getting him or her to admit to drinking at all, much less to actually having a drinking problem.

One of the most classic symptoms of alcohol abuse among people of all age groups is denial. No one wants to admit to having a drinking problem regardless of how young or old they are. In fact, a usual course of action is for people to develop such defense mechanisms that they often will not even admit to themselves that they are drinking too much.

Rationalization helps people to cope with their drinking issues, allowing them to continue in their destructive behaviors without seeking help. As a parent, your job is to make sure that your children receive professional help so that they can stop drinking. Unfortunately, there is no realistic way to avoid a negative and powerful impact on your family. Like any other addiction, the addict's issues tend to overflow and affect the entire family, causing stress and strain on family relationships.

To help your child stop drinking, parents need to understand that the recovery process is a lengthy one and it is not simply a matter of telling your child to stop. Once a person has become addicted to alcohol, a complete substance abuse treatment program must be put into place for the addicted person.

In order to fully recover from their alcohol addiction, teenagers must learn how to communicate in an effective manner, how to deal with stress in a positive way, and how to build and maintain trusting relationships. All of these things take time, and it is essential to the entire process that parents are supportive.

When thinking about your child's recovery, it is best to think in terms of months or years rather than days. On average, most effective treatment programs require 90 days of intensive treatment, which is followed by many months of transitional treatment and therapy.

The National Institutes on Drug Abuse have found that relapse rates are much higher for teenagers who only receive short-term treatment for their alcohol addiction. People who are in a treatment program for at least 90 days are much more likely to be successful at getting sober and staying that way for the long term.

Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disorder that causes biological changes within a person's brain. These types of changes do not simply revert back to "normal" as soon as a person stops using alcohol. It takes many months of staying sober and going through treatment and therapy for the brain's neural pathways to be rebuilt. During this period of rebuilding, people are quite vulnerable to suffering relapses because their bodies still need the alcohol that they became addicted to.

When searching for adolescent alcohol addiction treatment options, it is best to look for facilities that specialize in dealing with teenagers, as they will be better able to handle the unique circumstances that your teen is going through.