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Wednesday, September 24, 2014
The 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health was recently released. 
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Commentary: How To Choose The Best Treatment Center for Your Teen
/BY DOUG TIEMAN
September 24th, 2014/
One of the most difficult moments you can face as a parent is learning that your child suffers from addiction. You’ve already experienced the sleepless nights, the fear in the pit of your stomach that something isn’t right with your child. You’ve held on to the hope that their behavior was a “teenage phase” or an issue that could be easily and quickly remedied.
However, you’ve since learned that you’re dealing with addiction – a disease you never expected to encounter. You’re under enormous stress to make a decision about where to get treatment for your child, which could impact the rest of his or her life. We know that feeling, we understand the tremendous pressure, and we believe no parent should have to go through it alone.
For that reason, Caron Treatment Centers partnered with other leading adolescent treatment centers, Cumberland Heights, Hazelden, Rosecrance, and Visions Treatment Centers, to offer what we collectively believe are the essential criteria for adolescent treatment.
Our recommendations are designed to help in understanding critical success factors and empower families to make life-saving decisions for their teenager.
• Aftercare: Centers should offer long-term engagement including alumni and follow-up services. Caron, for instance, provides Recovery Care Services to adolescents and their parents. Specialists meet with teens during treatment and establish a relationship that continues through one year after treatment is completed. The goal is to assist in the transition of early recovery, continue a connection with Caron through alumni events, and provide parents with the opportunity to join a support group.
• Continuum of Care: Addiction is a chronic disease. A continuum of care supports long-term management of the illness. Services should include assessment, detoxification, treatment, primary care (first 30 days of residential treatment), extended care (residential treatment beyond 30 days), and follow-up sober living accommodations, strategic recommendations, and/or specialty and ongoing educational programming.
• Credentials: Centers should be accredited by CARF International. Organizations that are CARF accredited demonstrate their commitment to continuous improvement of their programs and services and must conform to the behavioral health standards established by CARF. Additionally, their treatment locations are audited by their local state departments of health services.
• Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs): Facilities should use EBPs that have been researched and validated to have positive outcomes on recovery. Motivational interviewing, for example, is a technique used by clinical staff to engage and motivate an adolescent to make positive changes. Another evidence-based practice, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), teaches people how their thoughts affect their feelings and how their feelings affect their behaviors. This allows individuals to make changes that can significantly improve quality of life.
• Family Program: Addiction affects the entire family. Therefore, families must be included in the treatment process, which starts during the pre-admission process and extends through recovery. Leading adolescent facilities offer family programs that educate, offer therapeutic support, and ultimately improve the wellness of the entire family.
• Gender Separation: Teens entering addiction treatment are in a vulnerable place. Centers that separate genders offer healthy and safe environments for their recovery.
• Highly Trained Clinical Team: Not all mental health professionals are alike. Top centers offer highly skilled mental health professionals trained for all aspects of treatment, including assessment, treatment, and co-occurring issues management.
• On-site Education: Facilities should offer on-site and individualized education. This gives patients the opportunity to achieve and maintain an acceptable academic status during treatment.
• Quality Medical Detox: The first stage of the treatment process involves detoxification. A safe withdrawal requires a quality medical setting with a highly trained team who are regularly monitoring patients, capable of managing complicated medical conditions, and can offer medicated interventions.
• Secure Environment: When choosing a center, it is critical for young patients to feel comfortable and safe in their residential treatment environment.
• Specialty groups: Myriad issues impact addiction. They’re often triggers for relapse if not addressed in the treatment process. When teens are able to work on issues like grief, body image, and anger, they develop important life skills that support them in long-term recovery.
• Spirituality: EBPs show that spirituality is a core component of successful recovery. It’s a deeply personal experience that doesn’t require a religious affiliation. Spirituality offers the previously isolated addict a connection to themselves, their loved ones, and society. Centers with a foundation in the 12-Steps empower patients to make a commitment to their recovery and provide a roadmap to nurture and practice that commitment daily.
• Wellness: Engaging in exercise and having a healthy diet are important habits to develop in treatment. They help heal the body and remain important behaviors at the heart of daily recovery. Facilities should offer programs for exercise – ideally both a gym and fun recreational activities. Likewise, facility cafeterias should offer healthy food and nutritionist guidance on creating a balanced diet.
Parents would take considerable measures to choose the right college for their child. We recommend applying the same level of analysis when choosing a treatment center. Stay tuned for additional insights in my next article. You can follow Caron on twitter @CaronTreatment.
Doug Tieman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Tieman has been the President and CEO of Caron Treatment Centers since 1995. Under Mr. Tieman’s direction, Caron has taken leadership roles in treating addiction in young adults and adolescents, sponsoring research, and participating in national conferences on addiction and recovery.
Activist Group: FDA Head Should Quit Because of Worsening Opioid Overdose Epidemic
September 24th, 2014/
A group of activists says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has worsened the opioid overdose epidemic. They are calling on the head of the agency, Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, to quit, The Washington Post reports.
The coalition, called FedUp!, is comprised of doctors, addiction specialists and family members who have lost loved ones to prescription drug overdoses, according to the newspaper. The group is planning a rally on Sunday in Washington, D.C. to draw attention to what it called “a slow and tragically ineffective federal response” to the “worst drug addiction epidemic in our nation’s history.”
“We have come to believe that without new leadership at FDA the opioid crisis will continue unabated,” the group wrote this week to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell. “We are especially frustrated by the [FDA’s] continued approval of new, dangerous, high-dose opioid analgesics that are fueling high rates of addiction and overdose deaths.”
The group criticized Hamburg’s defense of the FDA’s decision to approve Zohydro ER, a pure hydrocodone drug. Zohydro was approved for patients with pain that requires daily, around-the-clock, long-term treatment that cannot be treated with other drugs. In December 2012, a panel of experts assembled by the FDA voted against recommending approval of Zohydro ER. The panel cited concerns over the potential for addiction.
The FDA said in a statement that Hamburg has been a “tireless public health advocate” for more than two decades and “is committed to continuing to champion the rights of patients.” The agency added that preventing opioid abuse and ensuring pain sufferers have access to appropriate treatments are “both top public health priorities for the FDA.”
Alcohol a Factor in Several College Freshmen Deaths This Semester
September 24th, 2014/
At least eight U.S. college freshmen have died so far this semester, many of them in alcohol-related incidents, according to Times Higher Education. Colleges are encouraging freshmen and their parents to talk about alcohol and drugs even before they arrive on campus.
A freshman at Texas Tech University died of alcohol poisoning in late August. An international student at Michigan State University died after a night of drinking during the school’s move-in weekend. A Towson University student in Maryland died after falling into a glass door during a party, the article notes.
“It’s a huge transition and all the support systems are different,” said Pete Goldsmith, Dean of Students at Indiana University at Bloomington. “For students who have lived in very structured situations and environments, going to a college campus when very suddenly they have this new kind of freedom and new choices to make, it can be pretty overwhelming.”
Because in many cases only a few hours of orientation are devoted to drinking and drug use at most schools, they are trying to reach incoming students and their parents before they arrive. “We urge parents to have conversations with students about drug and alcohol use,” Goldsmith said. “We encourage parents to think through what their own expectations are for this first year. Parents and students are so focused on getting into college, there’s not always a lot of attention given to what’s going to happen once they’re actually there.”
Students who arrive at school may fall under the spell of “the college effect,” says Amy Murphy, Dean of Students at Texas Tech University. Even if they arrive at school with healthy attitudes and behaviors, they are exposed to unhealthy influences once on campus. These influences make them more likely to participate in drugs and drinking, she said.
People Tend to Consume More Alcohol on Days They Exercise: Study
September 24th, 2014/
People tend to drink more alcohol on days they exercise, suggests a new study. Beer is the most popular post-workout alcoholic beverage, Time reports.
The 150 adults who participated in the study used a smartphone app to record how much they exercised and how much alcohol they drank for 21 days at a time, at three times during one year. The study found both exercise and drinking increased Thursdays through Sundays.
The findings are published in Health Psychology. The researchers took into account the fact that people tend to have more alcohol-related social events on the weekend, and may prefer to drink primarily on the weekends.
“Monday through Wednesday people batten down the hatches and they cut back on alcohol consumption,” lead researcher David E. Conroy of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine said in a news release. “But once that ‘social weekend’ kicks off on Thursdays, physical activity increases and so does alcohol consumption.”
He added, “Perhaps people reward themselves for working out by having more to drink or maybe being physically active leads them to encountering more social situations where alcohol is consumed — we don’t know. Once we understand the connection between the two variables we can design novel interventions that promote physical activity while curbing alcohol use.”
Previous studies have shown that too much alcohol can negate some of the positive effects of exercise. Drinking adds to a person’s daily calorie count, and could impair muscle recovery, the article notes.
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