How to
help teen alcoholics
Alcoholism, in our schools?
A more adequate question would be “Why not?” Do we
not see every day in the news some headline about deaths related to
DUIs? How can we be surprised? The question should be more, in my
opinion, what are we going to do about it? And do it now, before we
lose more of our youth, the most vital part of society, its future.
Is disciplinary action what these kids really need? Sure, they did
break the law. They need to learn that there are consequences for
not abiding by the rules. But how stiff should those penalties be?
Shouldn't we be more concerned with the whys? Why are so many of the
youth abusing alcohol? Why are they in so much pain? Who are they
imitating? How did they get the disease? When did they start showing
the symptoms? How often do they drink and how much?
And what are we, their caregivers, going to do, aside from
punishing. Punishments are not known for taking care of diseases.
Think about it. When somebody has a disease, he or she is treated,
and if no cure exists yet, then money is spent to figure one out.
Treatment is always the final objective.
Let us not call alcoholism a disease, unless we are willing to call
those suffering from it patients. If people with that disease are
treated as criminals and punished, then alcoholism should be
considered a crime. And that might very well be the case. But, for
now, DSM-IV (the diagnostic book used by the American Psychiatric
Association) considers it a disease and that is what we have come to
accept.
It is well known that children need guidance. How
can they get it, if they come home from school to an empty house, or
if parents are too busy for them on weekends, or go away and leave
them alone, or work 70-hour weeks in pursuit of material possessions
while neglecting the most valuable one they already have? How can
you expect those kids not to get in trouble, if nobody is there to
teach them what it means to be a good human being? If a child grows
up seeing his or her parents have a martini every day after work, do
we have the right to be surprised when that child starts drinking
too?
Are we trying to teach our children that it's OK to drink, once you
turn 21? We as adults have to take responsibility when we send
confusing messages to our children. We don't show enough to our
children what it means to be good; we tell them what it means, but
we don't tend to show them by setting an example. Let's be
responsible adults and see how each one of us may contribute to this
problem. And once you see it, then please feel the moral
responsibility to do something about it.
Each time I see a person in our court system, getting “punished” for
driving under the influence and killing somebody, I feel the same
way — mainly sadness, frustration, pain, anger, etc. But the moment
you start taking a closer look at that individual, you see a person
with a history of incidents related to this disease. The person
obviously can't control himself, or he would, because nobody likes
to be punished and the punishments do get stiffer. The prescribed
medicine is usually detox. But can we really believe that the few
days of detox covered by insurance will clean up a lifelong
addiction? I personally do not think so.
So why do we continue to insist on “cures” that do
not work? Who are we trying to fool, but ourselves. Please, let's
shape up, all of us. Nobody is immune.
The kids have shown us they are in trouble, and it
is our responsibility and moral obligation, as their caretakers, to
do something about it. We owe it to them, and to all the people that
have been affected directly or indirectly by this very ugly disease.
Let us unite and fight this disease, before it gets even more out of
control. Let's not ignore the screams for help of our youth. Let us
take care of our most beautiful possession.
Dr Maria Tourreilles
April 7, 2005
http://www2.townonline.com/belmont/opinion/view.bg?articleid=219611
