Tending To Teen Depression During the Holiday Season

With the holiday season fast approaching, many families are very eager to spend time together and enjoy some relaxation and bonding after a long and stressful year. The holidays present an opportunity for parents to enjoy some quality time with their children and catch up on the events that have shaped their year. 

However, while holidays are ideally fun and exciting for most teenagers, they can nonetheless be very stressful for some. This is especially true if they have suffered a recent loss of a loved one or if they have a family member who is affected by a terminal illness. It is not very uncommon for teens to suffer from debilitating depression during the holiday season. 

If your teenage son or daughter is struggling with depression during this time, here are some of the tips that you can employ to help them cope with their uncomfortable feelings. 

Ensure they Eat a Healthy Diet

It is very easy for your child to succumb to unhealthy eating habits when dealing with depression during the holidays. They may start binging on unhealthy fast foods to distract them from their feelings, or refuse to eat at all. As their primary caregiver, you should ensure that your struggling teenager partakes a healthy diet in order to promote their physical and mental wellbeing. Make sure that your teenager takes in regular meals with lots of fruits and vegetables. It is also vital that they drink lots of water to keep their bodies healthy. 

Employ Humor to Help them Relax

The physical and mental health benefits of laughter have been proven beyond dispute. Studies have shown that laughter can help reduce blood pressure, release tension in the body muscles and improve metabolism. If your teenager is struggling with depression, helping them to laugh more can greatly help alleviate their negative feelings and promote physical wellbeing. Try sharing jokes with them as often as you can, or watch comedies which they like together with them.


Encourage them to Exercise

Engage in physical exercises can greatly alleviate depression since it helps boost the production of endorphins, which are feel-good hormones. Even a simple exercise like walking or jogging can improve blood circulation in the body and promote better mental and physical health. You should, therefore, encourage your teenager to take part in exercises. Going on morning jogs together, for instance, will not only enable your child to become more active, but it will also allow you to bond with them.


Help them Confront their Negative Thoughts and Feelings

It is very easy for depressed teenagers to fall into a vortex of negative thoughts and feelings which makes it impossible for them to enjoy life. If these issues are not dealt with appropriately, they may lead to suicidal thoughts. To avoid this eventuality, you must support your child in confronting these unwanted thoughts and emotions. Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help your depressed teenager to examine their thoughts and develop healthy mechanisms of coping with them whenever they arise. 

In Conclusion

The holiday season is supposed to be a time of relaxation and bonding. By applying these tips, you can help your child overcome their depression, so that they can enjoy this festive season along with friends and loved ones.

The Benefits of Seeking Family Addiction Therapy

Addiction affects entire families. These days, addiction therapy and treatment can not only extend to the individual struggling with substance abuse but to family and friends too.

Family addiction therapy is an option for anyone close to someone that is abusing alcohol or substances. Addiction is often a disease of the family. It can put family members through a lot of stress, emotionally, physically, financially, and more. It can cause experiences that are sad, damaging, or frightening.

Family members usually come up with unhealthy strategies to cope with the addiction. As the family becomes more dysfunctional and fragile, younger members may be especially susceptible to being traumatized or negatively influenced by being exposed to addiction.


How Families Cope

Abuse of substances can have different effects depending on the situation, but no one can deny that they affect the dynamics of the family in a lot of unhealthy ways. These can include:

• Safety The family may be put at risk in many ways

• Negative emotions- Others may feel anger, guilt, anxiety, resentment, and more

• Responsibility- Certain members of the family may have responsibilities that aren't appropriate for their age

• Communication- Family communication may become negative, with positive interaction being limited. Concerns and needs of others may not be met

• Boundaries and structure- Structure may be lacking in the home, with limited parental involvement and boundaries that are loose or do not exist. This results in children having confusion over what behaviors are negative or inappropriate

• Denial- A family member may not face the issue and deny that it exists, not wanting to face it or because of fear
• Relationships- Abuse can result in damaged relationships, that continue through generations due to behavioral modeling that is negative. Abusers often isolate, spending social time mostly with other abusers

Coping with Unhealthy Behaviors

Families may often have unhealthy ways of dealing with addiction, such as denial or enabling. However, they can feed the addiction and get in the way of a successful recovery or path to treatment.


Codependency

This happens when an individual must adapt to a dysfunctional family. Behaviors that qualify as codependent can be learned attitudes, behaviors, and thoughts that have you neglecting your desires/needs for the problem of a loved one.

These include constantly worrying about the addiction and abuse, denial or isolation, reacting in an irrational or violent way in events regarding an addiction, having low self esteem, aiming your misplaced anger at children or the pets, engaging in unhealthy behaviors to cope, and having to base your mood around theirs.

Enabling is also supporting abuse by taking away consequences. This makes it possible for the person to continue their addiction and the unhealthy cycle continues. These include using with them, ignoring or repressing your feelings, accepting excuses, protecting their image, making everything appear normal, and feeling guilty whenever you can't stop consequences.

Family therapy may be able to help. It provides a space that is safe where people can learn things about how they can assist someone's recovery. It also allows the family to heal as well as recover collectively and make positive changes that can improve their home and relationships.

Involvement in recovery and treatment with the family may prevent relapse, but it is always a risk. Know the stages of what relapse involves and the signs it may be happening. Get in touch with us  today to find out about what family programs are available to help.

How to Address Addiction As Family and Friends

Many individuals struggle with addiction, and so do many of their friends and the family members. Some continually try to help the individual seek addiction treatment, while others have reached a

breaking point so many times that they don't know what to do anymore or have given up.

The pervasive nature of addiction means that relationships are disrupted. They become unreliable, even untrustworthy. They may have stolen from you. You may not even recognize the person anymore.

Addiction is something that can not only affect the person with the substance abuse problem but the people that are closest to them as well. Family members often should be involved in the treatment process. Getting additional information, education, and resources can be helpful.

Friends and family may not always understand addiction or the need to set boundaries. They enable the addict by excusing behavior, covering up, casting blame, doing things for them, and even taking their word at face value. This can be precisely what an addict wants you to do and has even pressured or manipulated you into doing. However, all it does is allow addiction to continue. The family can become reactive as a result. Successful recovery can involve the following.



Give up the old ways.

If it's not working, it's not working. To embrace recovery, family and friends must give up on the old way of doing things. Only with new strategies can they start working to make healthy existence, at least for themselves, a reality.



Get rid of your urge to fix it.

Only the addict can fix it. The family cannot be the answer to addiction or many addictions would be solved already. It is too large of a burden and an individual must choose to take on recovery themselves. The individual in the middle of addiction must be the primary person to take control and say yes to getting clean and sober.


Be on the same page.

When family members are working together to be supportive and everyone is on the same page, it's easier for an addict to embrace recovery and gives them less room to capitalize on any rifts or weaknesses in family dynamics.



Hold them accountable.

Instead of blame, accountability must be the action pursued. Holding an addict accountable for what they do is important. Have boundaries set, have certain expectations, and maintain structure.



Be aware of where your energy goes. 

Energy can often be redirected in a family to go toward the addict. Families must take care into guarding the relationships that they have outside of the addict.

Family treatment and professional guidance or attending meetings can inform families on what is and is not healthy behavior. Support and guidance may be necessary and many family and friends do not even realize that they needed an outlet for their emotions.



Try healing with family therapy.

Effective therapy in families should be inclusive of all the family and friends' needs and take into account their dynamic. Clear goal setting and prioritizing therapy for the family could be healing. It can be done without the person suffering from addiction as well if that is more comfortable or productive.


Recovery may mean walking away from the loved one with a problem and going in another direction. It also could be working on yourself and your own quality of life. Family healing is important. Don't allow addiction to rule your life through another.

The Connection Between Depression and Substance Abuse

When it comes to using substances and mental illness, is there a connection between the two?Individuals that have been professionally diagnosed as having mental illness during their life have been found to make up a significant percentage of substance users. Mental illness and substance

abuse together form what is known as a co-occurring disorder or dual diagnosis.

What is depression? A mental illness that can often occur with using substances such as drugs or alcohol. Those who use substances (or abuse them) are more likely to suffer depression, whereas the opposite is also true in what is a bi-directional relationship.

When someone is depressed, they may abuse substances to change their mood or get rid of negative feelings. However, some substances act as depressants or in other ways and can actually contribute to depression, after the effects wear off or as they deal with emotions about addiction.

Signs Of Depression

About one third of adult individuals that abuse substances may also deal with depression. Symptoms of drug use can be the same as depressive symptoms, so it makes it tough to actively diagnose an individual with depression when they are using at the same time.

Depression can also manifest in different ways, depending on the individual. Some people may show signs of being in a low mood or overly fatigued. Some may be angry or irritable.

Signs include:

Sleep changes
Appetite changes
Losing interest in hobbies or activities
Feeling despair or guilt
Low energy
Difficulty concentrating
Thoughts of suicide

If you do not know whether you abuse substances, these questions might help:

Do you attempt to stop your habit but can't?
Does your life revolve around your addiction?
Do you have substance cravings?
Is your life being affected negatively by your using?
Do you continue to use even you're aware of the risk to personal relationships?
Do you use substances to a dangerous point?
Do you have to do more to get the effect you want?

Seek Treatment:

Treatment is important for those suffering with depression or a substance problem, or both. Medications or antidepressants may help with symptoms and treatment and counseling may provide emotional and behavioral support necessary to have a healthy lifestyle.

When seeking treatment, you may want first to get medical attention to deal with any withdrawal symptoms. This may require abstinence for some time to get an accurate diagnosis from a clinician. You may want to speak to a doctor regarding programs specially designed to deal with a dual diagnosis. Just ending substance use may cause the depression to get worse, risking a possible relapse.

Individuals sometimes find that support through counseling and medical attention as well as their peers is helpful when it comes to addiction. You may find that outpatient or inpatient treatment programs are appealing to you. Treatment programs that work usually have peer support, pharmacotherapy, treatment plans individualized to the person, medical assistance on site, involve the family, and have support programs as a follow up to address relapse.

Treating depression in the end may be key to treating substance issues, and vice versa. If you abuse substances, you may be struggling with depression or making it worse. Seek treatment to really address what's going on with you and be the healthiest and happiest version of yourself.

What Do I Do If My Parents Are Addicted to Drugs?

Being the child of a drug and substance addicted parent, it is likely you are dealing with neglect, abuse, and stigma from other children. It is also possible that you are frequently found in harm’s way because alcoholism and general addiction alter your parents’ perception and realities.

If you find yourself in danger of abuse and neglect, it is very important that you know what to do to help your parents and yourself remain safe.

-If you think you are facing the danger of abuse your addicted parent, call emergency services immediately for help. This can be the child helpline or even 911.
-Go to a neighbor, friend or relative for safety.
-Call an ambulance or 911 for medical assistance if your parents are in medical danger as a result of drug abuse.

Needless to say, parents can affect and influence your behaviors. When they are dealing with problems like addiction, what you want to do is try to help them overcome and recover from addiction.

Drug and substance addiction can be very hard to break. It is, however, possible to get rid of it, so there’s hope that your parents will be free from its shackles again with the right efforts and help.
As their child, it is important to understand that their love for you is still there even though (sometimes) their actions may make you believe otherwise.

Alcohol and other drugs are known to alter the behavior of an individual, making them inconsistent and even erratic. Knowing this will help you understand what your parents are going through a difficult “disease” and that they need help to overcome it.

While most children will imagine that there is nothing they can do to fix the problem, the contrary is true. Here’s how you can help resolve the problem.

Show compassion
Stopping and recovering from drug addiction can be a painful process. Most people who start the process end up sliding back to their old habits especially when they face the challenges of life.
Even though your parents are not at their best at the moment, try as much as you can to show them love, compassion and that you believe they will overcome their addiction. This is the kind of support they need right now. Hating and disrespecting them does not help them on the path of recovery.

Talk about it
Depending on the level of addiction, it can be difficult to find calm moments when you can have a good conversation with your parents. However, try to consistently look for those moments and talk to them about the problem. Let them know how it is affecting you, but do it in a calm, loving way.
Remember, if you fight with drug-addicted parents over their problem, you are likely to make them angry and resistant to your views. It also jeopardizes the chance of them listening to you again.

Reach out to people you trust
Sometimes speaking with your mom and dad about addiction is not enough to make them even try to stop. You should also know that this problem is not yours alone to deal with.
Reach out to someone you trust, preferably a close family member to help both you and your parents resolve the problem.

Get professional help
Sometimes your efforts may go in vain and the addiction problem can easily affect your life and development as a child. If all other efforts fail, it is important that you seek professional help.
Speak to a counselor at your school, or community about your parents’ addiction problem. They will get help for both you and your parents.

Remember, when your parents are addicted to drugs, they can become irresponsible in many ways. Your performance in school may drop and you run other risks such as physical and emotional abuse. Know that you can do something about it as a child to fix the problem.