100 Questions & Answers About Your Child's Substance Abuse

137 Pages·2010·2.65 MB·English

by  Romulo Aromin

100 Questions & Answers
About Your Child’s
Substance Abuse
Romulo A. Aromin, Jr., MD
Medical Director
Child and Adolescent Partial Hospital Programs
Adolescent MICA
Trinitas Regional Medical Center
Elizabeth, NJ
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aromin, Romulo A.
100 questions and answers about your child’s substance abuse / Romulo A. Aromin.
p. cm.
title: Hundred questions and answers about your child’s substance abuse
title: One hundred questions and answers about your child’s substance abuse
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7637-7981-8
ISBN-10: 0-7637-7981-4
1. Children—Substance use—Miscellanea. 2. Children—Substance use—Popular works. I. Title. II. Title: Hun-
dred questions and answers about your child’s substance abuse. III. Title: One hundred questions and answers about
your child’s substance abuse.
RJ506.D78A76 2012
618.92'.86—dc22
2010036987
6048
Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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DEDICATION
To Larry, my family, and my friends.
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CONTENTS
Introduction vii
Part One: The Basics 1
Questions 1–13 introduce the basics of adolescent substance abuse:
• Is it normal for kids to try drugs?
• How do I know if my child is using? What behaviors should I look for?
• Is there any simple way to ask my daughter if she has a drug problem?
Part Two: Risk Factors 15
Questions 14–26 explain common risk factors associated with your child’s substance
abuse problems, such as:
• I have family members who have used drugs before but do not now. Can this play
a role in my child’s drug use?
• I have a friend whose son has ADHD and is also receiving counseling for drug
abuse. Was her son at a higher risk for substance abuse because of his ADHD?
• Is there a relationship between bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness) and
drug abuse?
• Are the reasons for starting to use drugs the same as those that one has for con-
tinuing drug use?
Part Three: Alcohol Abuse in Adolescents 27
Questions 27–34 discuss different types of alcohol abuse, including the signs and
symptoms that your child may exhibit:
• What is binge drinking?
• What signs and symptoms should I look for to recognize alcohol poisoning? What
should I do if I suspect my son of alcohol poisoning?
• What preventive measures are effective to deal with underage drinking?
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100 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Part Four: Steroid Use in Adolescents 37
Questions 35–38 review how steroids are used and how to best prevent your child
from becoming involved with steroid use:
• My son is into sports at school. What type of drugs might he encounter as an
athlete?
• What is the usual dosage and period of time for which steroids are administered?
• What are the telltale signs of steroid abuse?
Part Five: Drug Abuse 41
Questions 39–51 discuss many types of drugs commonly abused by adolescents:
• I heard that my son took his classmate’s Adderall. Should I be concerned?
• Why does prescription drug abuse seem to be such a problem nowadays?
• My friend’s daughter was seen huffing something at home. Should my friend be
worried?
• What are the effects and dangers of club drugs?
Part Six: Assessment and Diagnosis 53
Questions 52–70 explain how substance abuse is diagnosed, including drug testing
and screening kits:
• How is drug abuse diagnosed?
• Are any other tests involved in the drug abuse diagnosis process?
• How long do drugs stay in the body? Is it true that marijuana stays in the body for
about a month?
Part Seven: Treatment 71
Questions 71–100 offer important information on how to treat your child’s
substance abuse problems and how to best prevent relapses:
• What is the goal of treating my son?
• How do I know how much treatment my child needs?
• How can I be a part of my child’s treatment?
• What is Relapse Prevention?
Appendix A: Resources 105
Appendix B: Further Reading 109
Glossary 117
Index 121
vi
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INTRODUCTION
Few illnesses bring more fear to a parent than alcoholism and drug
abuse. But unlike other disorders that can also be devastating to a
child and his or her family, addiction feels particularly confusing—
and somehow personal. Where did we go wrong? How did she use
all this time without us knowing? Where did he even get the drugs?
Okay, I’m ready to accept that what happened happened; so can I
help, or am I going to make things even worse?
For other physical and mental illnesses, parents routinely turn to
medical specialists for advice and expect guidance and typically follow
the experts’ recommendations. The very process of charting a course
of action with a doctor has significant therapeutic effects for both the
child and the parents. Unfortunately, we have come to expect much
less from the medical community when it comes to the prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of substance use disorders.
On one hand, we don’t trust that we know all that much about the ill-
ness itself. Both science and popular culture keep shifting their opinion
on the “true” cause of addiction. In the 1960s and the 1970s, it was all
about parenting; in the 1980 and the 1990s, we woke up to the monu-
mental discoveries of genetics; and during the past decade, we have
been greatly attracted to co-occurring psychiatric disorders including
posttraumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, attention-deficit hyper-
activity disorder, and autism. Recently, family system considerations for
both prevention and treatment have resurfaced, bringing us full circle
to the world of our parents. Scientists now know that what causes one
kid to get drunk and another to stay sober is rather complex. A number
of interrelated biological, psychological, and social determinants affect
the pleasure, reward, motivation, and memory brain neuronal circuitry
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100 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S SUBSTANCE ABUSE
leading to impairment in behavioral control, craving, and diminished
recognition of significant problems in one’s life.
On the other hand, there are very few medical doctors with the appro-
priate training to address substance use among children and adoles-
cents. The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology has certified
less than 250 psychiatrists in the subspecialty of addiction psychiatry
over the past 10 years. Only a handful of these doctors are also board
certified in the treatment of children and adolescents. Among this
elite group of experts, Dr. Romulo Aromin is one of the very best.
The book that you hold in your hands is Dr. Aromin’s straightfor-
ward answers to every parent’s questions about preventing, identifying,
and treating substance abuse and dependence. Based on his extensive
scholarship and clinical experience, Dr. Aromin has distilled our cur-
rent medical knowledge to a small set of practical and easily under-
stood guidelines for parents. While explaining what gateway drugs
are, showing us how we can best talk to our children about mari-
juana, describing in detail anabolic–androgenic steroids and frequently
abused prescription pills, warning about the potential pitfalls of home
drug testing, and advising on the most effective current treatments,
Dr. Aromin avoids medical jargon and maintains an informal yet
always scientifically rigorous style. He offers simple and frank sugges-
tions without shying away from the toughest questions. In the end, the
answers to the 100 questions addressed in this book form an invalu-
able manual for sifting through the treacherous, and often murky,
waters of substance use in adolescence. The clarity that emerges from
Dr. Aromin’s work is both highly accessible and greatly appreciated.
Petros Levounis, MD, MA
Director, The Addiction Institute of New York
Chief, Division of Addiction Psychiatry
The St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
New York, NY
viii
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PART ONE
The Basics
Is it normal for kids to try d rugs?
How do I know if my child is using?
What behaviors should I look f or?
Is there any simple way to ask my daughter
if she has a drug problem?
More . . .
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