How Teen Substance Use Is Linked to the Youth Mental Health Crisis
Understanding the Trends: Substance Use Among High School Students
“Substance use among high school students decreased for some substances from 2011 to 2021,” reported the Youth Risk Behavior Survey published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last year. “However, many students still used substances and the lack of progress in adolescents’ use of some substances is concerning.”
Alcohol and Marijuana Use Among Teens
A CDC report reveals that nearly 25% of high school students drank alcohol in the past month. Similarly, the report found that female students are more likely than male students to misuse alcohol.
In total, 16% percent of high school students used marijuana during the past 30 days that year.
The Link Between Substance Use and Mental Health in Teens
Teenage substance misuse is not an isolated phenomenon but is strongly correlated with the mental health crisis among young people.
- New research has found that teens who use cannabis, alcohol, and nicotine substances often have more severe mental health issues than those who do not use them regularly.
In New York Times article by Matt Richtel in January, he wrote. “The research […] found that such substances are linked to an array of symptoms and conditions, including anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, and suicidal ideation.“
Co-Occurring Disorders: Substance Use Disorder and Teen Mental Health Issues
The research paper found that the link between substance use and mental health existed even at low levels of drug and alcohol use. A few years earlier, Swedish researchers arrived at similar conclusions.
“The majority of young people with drug and alcohol problems suffer from concurrent mental health problems, referred to as co-occurring disorders or comorbidity,” wrote Richert, Anderberg, and Dahlberg in their 2020 study on mental health problems among young people in substance use treatment.
The Swedish researchers found that “Young people with substance use problems face a high risk of co-occurring mental health problems, something that may involve a more difficult life situation, social problems as well as worse treatment outcomes. […]
The link between more severe drug problems and mental health problems points to the importance of exploring this relationship in treatment. A multidisciplinary approach, in which co-occurring problems can be addressed simultaneously, may be the best treatment form for many young people with drug problems.”
Turning Winds: A Comprehensive Approach to Teen Substance Misuse
Turning Winds offers such a multidisciplinary approach with a full continuum of care for teens with mental health needs. Our clients achieve success through a combination of therapeutic, recreational, and educational approaches that together provide the best possible outcomes.
Addressing the Root Causes of Teen Substance Use
Turning Winds’ Tara Stever has made a huge impact on many of our students, helping them overcome their destructive behaviors. The starting point for Stever is typically exploring why the teen client started misusing drugs and alcohol.
“A lot of kids say something like, ‘because it was fun and stuff,’ but the reality is we use substances to hide something. For most of us, it’s about hiding emotions. We don’t want to feel those emotions or we don’t want to face some other trauma in life. And so we cover it up and hide it with substance use.”
The Role of Residential Treatment in Addressing Teen Substance Use Disorder
Teens may engage in substance use to self-medicate emotional pain such as anxiety, depression, and trauma. Using drugs and alcohol to numb feelings will eventually exacerbate any mental health condition the behavior was meant to alleviate.
Most parents who send their kids to Turning Winds after discovering their dangerous substance use have been through a lot—frequently the drug and alcohol use of their child started in middle school.
Any mild to moderate addiction that a child may have can be treated at our residential program—including video game addictions, computer addictions, pornography, drug and alcohol use, cutting, and sexual addictions.
Teenage clients with these kinds of addictive behaviors have been able to improve in our care.
A Unique Hybrid Model for Treating Substance Misuse in Teens
The hybrid model at Turning Winds utilizes the best elements of care from wilderness therapy, therapeutic boarding schools, and inpatient treatment to create a one-of-a-kind residential treatment center to help kids with mental health and substance use issues.
The focus is on creating a stable pattern of living through education, process groups, and individualized treatment planning and review. Our mission is to rescue teens from crises, renew their belief in their potential, reunite them with their families, and launch them on a sustainable path to success.
If your teen is struggling with mental health or substance use issues, contact us online for more information, or call us at 800-845-1380. If we miss your call, rest assured we will reconnect with you promptly to start planning your transformative experience.
