Adolescence And Substance Abuse Essay

Introduction The period of time in which one is an adolescent is riddled with confusion, experimentation, and change on several different levels. It is a time of physical, psychological, social and cognitive growth (Stagman, Schwarz & Powers, 2011). The transition from childhood into adulthood comes with a number of difficulties, including exposure to alcohol and drugs. Although experimenting with alcohol and drugs during adolescence is common, it may also lead to dependency and addiction (Stagman, Schwarz & Powers, 2011). For this reason, it is important to treat adolescent drug use and dependency at an early stage to prevent further addiction and dependency issues into adulthood. Currently, there are several different treatment options for addressing adolescent substance use including individual therapy, group therapy and family therapy. These methods are used in outpatient clinics, inpatient and acute treatment centers and school-based or day treatment centers for adolescents. Research suggests that there is a link between adolescent substance use and family functioning and family interaction (Rowe, 2012). Based on these findings, there has been an increase in developing and researching treatment methods that engage both …show more content…
It has been found to be effective in “ reducing drug abuse, behavior problems and emotional distress in children and adolescents, engaging families into treatment and improving family functioning” (Szapocznik & Wilson, 2000). A study by Santisteban and colleagues found that adolescent participants in the BSFT condition showed more improvement in decreasing behavior problems, marijuana use and family functioning (Santisteban et al., 2003). BSFT has also been found to be more effective than treatment as usual in decreasing substance use in adolescents whose parents are also substance users (Horigian et al.,