There is no doubt that drug abuse in families can cause major conflicts, catastrophes and sometimes death. For families facing this frightening experience, drug dependency among our children is a most lonely and difficult battle to face. From my counselling experiences over the years, families are literally crushed by this situation.
Today’s youth are now abusing a much broader array of drugs and substances; such as, flakka, which has the street name the zombie drug. Flakka causes super human strength, agitation and bizarre behaviour. A person using flakka can also experience an excited delirium and violent episodes. Teens using this drug can become addicted to it and are at a greater risk of injury and death.
Fentanyl is another highly potent opioid that is increasing deaths by overdose. The real problem is that they are mixed in a subtle way with marijuana plants and hard to detect. It is also stronger than heroine and highly addictive.
Our youth are also using drugs at a much younger age than any other time in Kenya’s history. As teens continue to experiment with drug abuse and other substances, they put their health and safety at risk because they are very vulnerable to the possible rewiring by drugs that tamper with the circuits in the brain.
Teens are noted to use or misuse drugs for several reasons. Factors such as genetics, personality, family dynamics, and peer interactions are some of the common factors for teen’s drug abuse. Other factors are:
- Mental health challenges
- Family history of substance abuse
- Experiencing traumatic events such as death, accidents, or physical abuse
- Rejection and self- esteem challenges
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Because most teens are naive about the consequences of drug abuse, they often times give into pressures of their peers. In addition, teens may use drugs as a way of expressing rebellion or challenging family restrictions. And other times, teens are known to claim that they started taking drugs because of significant family stress. And this is true in some instances when it appears that the teen’s drug use may stem from instability in the family setting. Of course this situation is more complex than stated here.
A teen’s drug use can be used as a function for the family; thus allowing the family members to focus on the drug user’s problems rather than the more conflicting and pressing difficulties they may be facing as a married couple.
In dysfunctional families, the cycle created continues until the teen decides to change his behaviour and stop using drugs. When this happens the marital tensions in the family may take a more catastrophic position, and can result in a separation or divorce.
Another issue that can creep into the family dealing with teen substance abuse is the death of the teen. This is compounded when another catastrophe is manifested when the teen tries suicide and attempts death. This is always unexpected. A bigger challenge occurs as the family’s ability to deal with the emergency is in high alert. We should never underestimate the power of misfortunes when our teens decide to use and abuse drugs and substances.
Other issues are hospitalization, expense for health care, as well as funeral arrangements if the teen has a drug overdose or committed suicide. In addition, this also includes other more stressful issues like psychological problems dealing with loss, guilt for not taking more or other actions, time lost from work, among other challenges.
Family coping mechanisms
There are two possible options that are presented when families strive to cope with adolescent addictions. One is dysfunctional coping, and the other is functional coping. Dysfunctional coping occurs when the family strives to maintain the family functioning during the drug abuse episodes and resulting hardships that arise as a result of this issue. Sometimes such crisis can result in feeling paralyzed among other dimensions of family life.
In a functional coping family, they are usually more effective because they are a little more balanced in adaptability and cohesion. Family adaptability means that the family behaviour system can change its power structure, role exchanges, and relationship rules in response to the situation stress. Cohesion in the family is emotional bonding among family members when they experience conflicts, stress and catastrophes.
In the final analysis, families that are well-organized, loving and close to each other by open communication may experience teens who briefly experiment with drugs, marijuana, or alcohol but do not experience members who have serious and lasting drug habits.
To prevent stressful and catastrophic events in the family from drug and substance use, the family must play a proactive role to educate its members in developing healthy behaviours and coping skills, with the support of the community and governmental. The affirmative actions will help to reduce the substance abuse among teens and promote healthy behavioural goals. Always remember there is hope for your teen when drug and substance abuse causes stress and catastrophes in your family.
To be continued . . . . . .
For emergency services: ambulance, fire EMS dials 999.
By Doris Foxworth Odito
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