When it comes to the development of drug addiction and abuse, it’s common knowledge that genetic connections can play a part. If an immediate family member – mother, father, or sibling – struggled with drug and alcohol dependence, it is more likely that another family member will fight the same problem if they opt to experiment with illicit substances.

The issue may be more than just genetic. There is an identifiable cycle of abuse and addiction that occurs among families where drug addiction is rampant. The bad news is that it won’t be broken without effort. The good news is that drug addiction treatment can help.

The Cycle of Drug Abuse and Addiction

Let’s consider the passing of an addiction from generation to generation. A teen who is addicted to drugs or alcohol may be more likely to engage in unprotected sex, and have a child before they are ready. Still struggling with drugs and alcohol, they may be unready to undergo drug addiction treatment and continue to abuse illicit substances as the child grows up.

When addiction is a part of family life, the child is neglected. He or she is exposed to the dangers and ugliness that come with daily life lived in the grips of drug dependence. Trauma can result and many children are witness to – if not victims of – terrible events as a result of a parents’ addiction. Domestic violence, sexual abuse, criminal acts – all of these are common.

As a result, many children of addicts will turn to drugs and alcohol in order to numb the feelings of fear, instability, and sadness that result. Access is easy due to the parents ongoing addiction, and due to the young age of first use and the malleability of the brain during this crucial period of development, the onset of addiction is relatively rapid.

What happens next? The increased chance of unprotected sex, which means another cycle of a young parent with a drug addiction tasked with a raising child….

The cycle can be never ending.

Breaking the Cycle

Breaking the cycle starts when the addicted parent gets the help he or she needs to break free from their own addiction. Once in recovery and beginning the process of building a solid life for themselves, their children will benefit from a better role model, less chance of trauma, and more stability. If this happens early enough, it can lower the chances of the child ultimately developing an addiction as well.

If you are a mother and fighting off a drug and alcohol addiction, contact us at The Orchid today for information about how you can help yourself, your child, and your family to beat drug dependence – now and in the future.

During active drug and alcohol addiction, the focus is on the addict. The risks, the health problems, the violent outbursts, the need to remain high or drunk, the constant search for more money to buy more drugs and alcohol, the mood swings – it’s all about the addict. Few think about those who live with and love the addicted person. Children, spouses, extended family, and siblings are all deeply wounded by the untreated drug dependence of the person they love – emotionally and often physically as well – and while the focus is on getting the addict the help they need to recover, few consider the needs of the family in terms of helping them recover from the experience as well.

How Families are Hurt by Addiction

Addiction is not just the problem of the person physically and psychologically dependent upon an illicit substance. Families, too, are victims of the disorder, for a number of reasons. Many end up experiencing:

• Domestic violence. In domestic violence cases, more than half of all those reported involve drug and alcohol abuse. How many go unreported?
• Emotional abuse. Emotional abuse is even more common as family members are forced to deal with the mood swings of their addicted loved one and rarely given the room to have their own emotional issues related to this and other problems.
• Financial problems. Addiction is expensive, and the damage and problems caused by that addiction can be expensive, too. Few addicts can maintain a job and contribute to the family finances; rather, the addicted family member usually costs the family more money than all other members combined, which puts undue financial pressure and stress on everyone else.
• Social isolation. Embarrassment caused by the addicted family members’ erratic behavior and the need to “cover up” those problems often means that the family is isolated from others – which often serves to increase their sense of dysfunctional addiction as normal and decrease their chances of healing.
• Health problems. Family members of addicts often forego their own mental and physical healthcare in service of dealing with their loved one’s addiction. As a result, many suffer from untreated mental health disorders like depression and chronic ailments that go undiagnosed.

What Families Need to Heal

Family therapy is one of the best ways to address the issues related to an addiction in the family. If the addicted family member refuses to attend or is at an inpatient treatment center, family members can find healing and support through 12-step meetings, personal therapy, and other group therapy options. Learning how to prioritize one’s own health is essential to make sure that, in the event of the relapse of the addicted family member, others in the family remain protected.

Contact us at The Orchid today to learn more about our woman-centered drug rehab program and how we emphasize family healing.

Though no one factor can be pinpointed as “the” reason for the development of drug and alcohol abuse or addiction among teens, one new study called the Dad and Me report, says that there is a high rate of absentee fathers among those struggling with drug addiction.

Among the statistics pulled from the study:

• Young people with absentee dads are about 80 percent more likely to be anti-social in their behavioral choices (i.e., living outside the law and societal norms in terms of crime and drug abuse and addiction)
• More than 76 percent of fatherless youth are more likely to commit crimes
• More than 69 percent of young people with absent fathers are likely to abuse drugs

Why is this the case? Some sources postulate that the connection between absentee dads and high rates of drug abuse and crime among their children is a lack of self-esteem due to feelings of abandonment. Some of the interviewed kids said that they turned to drugs to numb the feelings of pain associated with losing their fathers and did crimes to impress gang members who gave them the support and encouragement that they missed from their fathers.

According to the report: “Young people are struggling to find a sense of purpose within their families, schools, and community, and believe that peers provide them with what they need.”

Interestingly, the kids who turned to drug abuse and addiction to deal with issues related to growing up without a father were the same ones who reported an interest in being better parents themselves. Unfortunately, in many cases, the reason that many fathers are not active in their children’s lives is due to a drug addiction of their own. Kids who turn to drug abuse and addiction often end up unwittingly perpetuating the cycle of addiction in their own families, especially when they end up with unexpected pregnancies at a young age and are unable to be positive parents due to their issues of drug and alcohol dependence.

Another issue that drives rates of addiction among kids with absent fathers is anger. Says the report: “This type of anger goes unnoticed, unchecked and is not detectable. It triggered or released the outcome is detrimental to friends and family who have to pick up the pieces after the bomb has exploded.”

How do we break the cycle? By helping young parents who are struggling with drug and alcohol addiction to get the help they need to get back on track and prioritize their children’s health and wellness over
addiction. It’s a long process, but one that starts with a phone call. Contact us at The Orchid if you would like to learn more about how we can help women who are mothers to fight drug addiction.

Prescription painkiller abuse is reaching epidemic proportions in the United States today causing doctors to enter uncharted territory with pregnant addicts. As we’ve seen the death rates associated with painkiller abuse triple over the past ten years, there has been a ripple effect of ethical dilemmas throughout the medical community without any easy answers. One such issue, is the best way to treat women who become pregnant and have a pre-existing prescription painkiller addiction.

Many doctors outright refuse to treat painkiller addicts who are carrying a child because of the potential ethical and legal fallout of this touchy situation. On the one hand, a physician may help their patient withdraw from their addiction, but the outcome of correcting the mother’s health could be the loss of the fetus. Another option would be to prescribe the mother methadone, so the baby will not have to try to survive withdrawal in utero, but instead will have to go through this agony once they are born and hopefully strong enough to handle it.

Research is Difficult To Perform on Unborn Babies

Doctors today are in a similar situation from 25 years ago when they had to figure out on the job how to deal with cocaine and crack addicted babies. The medical research is few and far between when it comes to pregnancy and drugs because of the risk to both the mother and the fetus. For any type of research, scientists must stick to very stringent ethical guidelines, but in this situation the lines become blurred. Physicians at the National Institute for Drug Abuse freely admit the knowledge on painkiller addiction and pregnancy is sorely lacking and that no doctor exactly knows what the best course of action is for the addict or the baby.

Buprenorphine May Be Part of the Solution for Pregnant Addicts

The treatment of choice for years has been to give the pregnant mother methadone, which keeps withdrawal symptoms at bay, but in itself, can cause addiction and extreme tiredness. Instead there is a growing trend of prescribing buprenorphine to keep cravings low and runs a smaller risk of any obvious addiction signs in the newborn baby.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a research article that found babies who had been exposed to buprenorphine need less medical intervention after birth. However, it is important to note that buprenorphine is not a panacea. Not all babies with opiate exposure need medical intervention (although the majority do) and buprenorphine does not work for all women. Nonetheless, it appears to be one potential solution for a medical community struggling for safe and effective ways to provide many unborn babies the best possible entrance into the world despite less than ideal circumstances.

What do you think about the doctors dilemma in treating pregnant addicts? Your thoughts, opinions and ideas are all welcome below.

Alcoholism has long been a problem for seniors and, when combined with many of the prescription medications that are often necessary in this age group, it can become a deadly issue. There are a number of stressors in this transitional stage and many seniors end up struggling with depression as well – a problem that often triggers alcoholic behavior. Unfortunately, heavy drinking makes depression worse, which can only exacerbate physical and emotional health. It’s a problem that is expected to get worse over the next 10 years.

Tampa Bay Online reports that about 3 million seniors in the United States struggle with alcohol and drug addiction – a number that is expected to triple over the next decade.

The problems that result from alcohol abuse and addiction among seniors are not much different than those that plague younger drinkers, but because the body becomes more fragile with age, more physical health problems tend to pile up more quickly. TBO reports that about 14 percent of hip fractures among seniors are due to mixing alcohol and prescription medications.

Alcohol abuse is the primary substance of abuse among seniors according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Unfortunately, the same survey shows that the rate of illicit drug abuse has grown by 3 percent over the past 10 years, too. This includes prescription drugs and other substances, like marijuana. The combination of the two substances can be lethal, robbing patients of their quality of life as well as their memories and physical health. Marijuana is far more potent than it was when many aging baby boomers first experimented with the drug 30 years ago, and combining it with prescriptions and alcohol can completely obliterate the patient’s ability to function.

One substance abuse treatment specialist told the Daily Tribune: “Baby-boomer parents who still think marijuana is a harmless substance need to look at the facts. Marijuana potency has grown steeply over the past decade, with serious implications in particular for young people, who may not only be at increased risk for various psychological conditions, cognitive deficits and respiratory problems, but are at significantly higher risk for developing dependency on other drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, than are nonsmokers.”

The hard part is first recognizing the signs of addiction among seniors who are going through so many different changes and then helping them to understand the risks that are inherent to abusing alcohol and drugs. Treatment is available, however, and seniors who are ready to make the changes necessary to live a fuller life without addiction can seek treatment. Call us at The Orchid to learn more about options in senior women’s addiction treatment.