While it is normal for parents to respond with anger or even denial, feelings of embarrassment, guilt and uncertainty about what to do can make it difficult to act. At ADAP, we understand that during those critical times, parents and adolescents often have a shared experience of feeling alone, different, and hopeless. However, just as one person can affect the family by using drugs, so too can one person affect the family by learning new coping strategies, communication skills, and tools for empowerment.
Adolescents have more trouble understanding the consequences of their behavior than adults.
They possess a lower physiological tolerance for drugs and fewer coping skills to manage pressure and stress. In addition, the perceived risk of harm from drugs is falling at a time when adolescents are experimenting earlier, and drugs are more potent than ever. Therefore, it is important to intervene as early as possible, to increase the chance for a successful recovery before it becomes a lifestyle. Despite the myth that addiction is not a problem in the Jewish community, statistics show that Jewish adolescents are prone to abusing drugs and alcohol to the same extent as teenagers in the general population. Recovery from addiction is a physical, emotional and spiritual process.