Since teens are still developing and maturing, they are more prone to caving to peer pressure, which is one of the significant triggers of drinking. When you develop an alcohol abuse disorder, treatment is usually necessary, as alcohol detox can be severe, and overcoming a psychological dependency without help is difficult. Contact our adolescent alcohol addiction treatment center at Foothills at Red Oak Recovery today for treatment.
Triggers of Drinking
As their logical reasoning centers continue to develop well into early adulthood, teens are more likely to make risky and dangerous decisions than adults. Triggers of drinking for teens usually involve peer pressure. The need to gain acceptance from peers can cause poor decisions. Since alcohol can cause ethanol poisoning in more significant amounts, behaviors like binge drinking are dangerous.
While you can avoid triggers of drinking, it can be difficult for teens to resist social pressures. Teens who struggle with depression and anxiety can be more likely to experiment with alcohol, as drinking can temporarily relieve symptoms and cause relaxing emotions. Other triggers of drinking involve how alcohol changes your brain chemistry.
Teens are more sensitive to the effects alcohol has on brain chemistry. When teens drink, alcohol causes a rush of pleasurable neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and GABA. These neurotransmitters cause the positive effects of intoxication and cause the brain to connect alcohol with pleasure. Once intoxication ends, there is a sudden depletion of neurotransmitters, which causes cravings.
Alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance in the United States, with nearly 140 million Americans ages 12 and older drinking at least once a month. Drinking is common among high schoolers, with 58% of 18-year-olds and 29.8% of 15-year-olds drinking at least once. Alcohol can lead to physical and psychological dependency. The progression of alcoholism varies significantly between individuals, as it can develop within weeks, months, or years of your first drink.
How Alcohol Use Disorders are Treated
Since teens are more likely to experience mood changes because of puberty, regular alcohol use can have a detrimental impact on mental and emotional health, which can increase conflict and cause poor coping skills to develop. As a result, when teens abuse alcohol, it can lead to severe consequences, such as:
- Declining grades
- Truancy
- Underage drinking or driving while intoxicated charges
- Physical dependency
- Increased risk of abusing other substances
Since triggers of drinking can make it difficult to stop drinking without help, completing a teen alcohol abuse treatment program is the best way to improve your recovery chances. Teen alcohol abuse treatment can involve inpatient or outpatient programs. Inpatient programs are residential, while outpatient programs allow you to return home each night.
If you develop a physical addiction to alcohol, withdrawal symptoms can begin within hours of your last drink. That is why inpatient alcohol abuse treatment programs usually offer medically-supervised detox programs.
At our inpatient alcohol abuse treatment center, we utilize evidence-based and holistic therapies. Evidence-based treatments, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, are proven to work after extensive studies. Conversely, holistic therapies, such as meditation, can improve cognition and decrease stress.
Since an essential part of recovery is learning how to cope with triggers of drinking, treatment teaches you how to implement healthy coping strategies to reduce your risk of relapsing. Individual counseling helps you identify and change negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Another way treatment improves your ability to remain sober is by providing you with a safe place to express negative emotions. Since negative emotions serve as triggers, coping with them helps your recovery.
Finding Help Today
Triggers of drinking can make it hard to achieve sobriety if you have an alcohol misuse disorder. Since alcohol abuse disorders are progressive, symptoms worsen until you receive help. Contact Foothills at Red Oak today at 866.300.5275 to discuss our programs and your recovery options.
