Drug Addiction Treatment

Drug addiction treatment seeks to help addicted individuals stop compulsive drug seeking and use. Treatment can occur in a variety of settings, in many different forms and for different lengths of time. Because drug addiction is typically a chronic disorder characterized by occasional relapses, a short term treatment one time is usually not sufficient. For many, treatment is a long term process that involves multiple interventions and regular monitoring. Clinical research suggests that there are many approaches to treating addiction. Drug treatment can include behavioral therapy, like individual or group counseling, cognitive therapy or contingency management, medications or a combination thereof. The specific type of treatment or combination of treatments will vary depending on the individual needs of the patient and, often, on the types of drugs a patient uses. The severity of addiction and previous efforts to stop using drugs can also influence the approach to treatment. Finally, people who are addicted to drugs often suffer from other health, occupational, legal, familial and social problems that doctors should address concurrently. The best programs provide a combination of therapies and other services to meet the needs of the individual patient. Specific needs may relate to age, race, culture, sexual orientation, gender, pregnancy, other drug use, other existing morbid conditions, parenting, housing and employment, as well as any history of physical or sexual abuse.

Brief Strategic Family Therapy for Adolescents

Brief Strategic Family Therapy targets family interactions that are thought to maintain or exacerbate adolescent drug abuse and other co-occurring problem behaviors. Such problem behaviors include conduct problems at home and at school, oppositional behavior, delinquency, associating with antisocial peers, aggressive and violent behavior and risky sexual behavior. This therapy is based on a family systems approach to treatment, where family members’ behaviors are assumed to be interdependent such that the symptoms of any one member the drug-abusing adolescent, for example are indicative, at least in part, of what else is going on in the family system. The role of the counselor is to identify the patterns of family interaction that are associated with the adolescent’s behavior problems and to assist in changing those problem-maintaining family patterns. The therapy is meant to be a flexible approach that can be adapted to a broad range of family situations in various settings mental health clinics, drug abuse treatment programs, other social service settings and families’ homes and in various treatment modalities as a primary outpatient intervention, in combination with residential or day treatment and as an aftercare/continuing-care service to residential treatment.

Helping Overweight Children

Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

Healthy eating and physical activity habits are important to the well being of every child. Eating too much and exercising too little may lead to being overweight and related health problems that may follow children into adult years. Parents can take active roles to help kids and the whole family, learn healthy eating and physical activity habits that last a lifetime.
Children grow at different rates at different times, so it is not always easy to tell if a child is overweight. If a child is overweight, talk to a health care provider. The doctor can determine if the weight and height of the child are in a healthy range.
Involve the whole family in building healthy eating and physical activity habits. This benefits everyone and does not single out the overweight child.
Do not put a child on a weight loss diet unless a health care provider advises it. If children do not eat enough, they may not grow and learn as well as they should.
Remind the child that he or she is special. The feelings children have about themselves are a result of how they think their parents feel about them. Accept a child no matter what his or her weight. Children are more likely to accept and feel good about themselves when parents accept them. Listen concerns the child may have about his or her weight. Overweight children probably know better than anyone that they have a weight problem. Children need support, understanding and encouragement from parents.

Encourage Healthy Eating Habits

Buy and serve more fruits and vegetables fresh, frozen, canned or dried. Let the child choose them at the store. Buy fewer soft drinks and high fat or high calorie snack foods like chips, cookies and candy. These snacks may be okay occasionally, but always keep healthy snack foods on hand. Offer the healthy snacks more often at snack times. Make sure the child eats breakfast every day. Breakfast may provide the child with the energy he or she needs to listen and learn in school. Skipping breakfast can leave a child hungry, tired and looking for less healthy foods later in the day. Eat fast food less often. When visiting a fast food restaurant, encourage healthier options choices, such as salads with low-fat dressing or small sandwiches without cheese or mayonnaise. Offer a child water or low fat milk more often than fruit juice. Low fat milk and milk products are important for development of any child. One hundred percent fruit juice is a healthy choice but is high in calories. Limit the amount of saturated and trans fats in the family diet. Instead, most fat intake should come from sources such as fish, vegetable oils, nuts and seeds. Plan healthy meals and eat together as a family. Eating together at meal times helps children learn to enjoy a variety of foods. Do not get discouraged if a child will not eat a new food the first time. Some kids will need to have a new food served to them 10 times or more before they will eat it. Try not to use food as a reward when encouraging kids to eat. Promising dessert to a child for eating vegetables, for example, sends the message that vegetables are less valuable than dessert. Kids learn to dislike foods they think are less valuable.

Healthy Snack Ideas

A child might enjoy trying the following foods: fresh fruit; fruit canned in juice or light syrup; small amounts of dried fruits, such as raisins, apple rings or apricots; fresh vegetables, such as baby carrots, cucumber, zucchini or tomatoes; low sugar, whole grain cereal with low fat milk. Foods that are small, round, sticky or hard to chew, such as raisins, whole grapes, hard vegetables, hard chunks of cheese, nuts, seeds and popcorn, can cause choking in children under age 4. These foods are okay for young children with a little preparation, for example, by cutting grapes into small pieces and cooking and cutting up vegetables. Always watch a toddler during meals and snacks.

Serving Size

Start with small servings and let the child ask for more if he or she is still hungry. Children need adults to provide them with healthy meals and snacks, but a child should be allowed to choose how much food he or she will eat.
Be aware that some companies market some high fat or high sugar foods and beverages specifically to kids. Usually these products have cartoon characters, offer free toys and come in bright packages. Talk with kids about the importance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other healthy foods, even if TV and stores do not advertise these foods.

Encourage Daily Physical Activity

Like adults, kids need daily physical activity. Here are some ways to help kids move every day:
Set a good example. If a child sees an adult that is physically active and that it is fun while doing, he or she is more likely to be active throughout life.
Encourage children to join a sports team or class, such as soccer, dance, basketball or gymnastics at school or at a local community or recreation center.

Sensitive to Needs

Be sensitive to the needs of the child. If a child feels uncomfortable participating in activities like sports, help him or her find physical activities that are fun and not embarrassing, such as playing tag with friends or siblings, jumping rope or dancing to his or her favorite music.
Be active together as a family. Assign active chores such as making the beds, washing the car or vacuuming. Plan active outings such as a trip to the zoo, a family bike ride or a walk through a local park.
The body of a pre-adolescent child is not ready for adult physical activity. Do not encourage children to participate in activities such as long jogs, using an exercise bike or treadmill or lifting heavy weights. Kids should do fun physical activities.
Kids need about 60 minutes of physical activity a day, but this does not have to happen all at once. Several short 10- or even 5-minute periods of activity throughout the day are just as good. If children are not used to being active, encourage them to start with what they can do and build up to 60 minutes a day.

Discourage Inactive Pastimes

Set limits on the amount of time spent watching TV, playing video games and being on the computer.
Help kids find fun things to do besides watching TV, like acting out favorite books or stories or doing a family art project. A child may find that creative play is more interesting than TV.
Children are good learners and they often mimic what they see. Choose healthy foods and active pastimes. Children will learn to follow healthy habits that last a lifetime.

Childhood Weight-Control Program

Think about a treatment program if: A change in eating and physical activity habits has not impacted the health of the child or if a health care provider advised that the health or emotional well being of the child is at risk because of his or her weight.
The overall goal of a treatment program should be to help the whole family adopt healthy eating and physical activity habits that will last a lifetime. A weight-control program should also: include a variety of health care professionals on staff, including doctors, registered dietitians, psychiatrists or psychologists and exercise physiologists. Staff should evaluate the weight, growth and health of the child before enrolling him or her in the program. The program should also monitor these factors while the child participates in the program. The program should adapt to the specific age and abilities of the child. Programs for 4-year-olds should be different from those for 12-year-olds.