For many of the teens who need addiction treatment services, co-occurring disorders are the root cause of their issues. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that in 2016, more than 16% of youth between the ages of 6 and 17 had a mental health disorder that year. That comes out to about 7.7 people. Sadly, just over half of these individuals received the treatment they needed.
Parents are often surprised to learn that their children are experiencing mental health issues. A lot of teens do not even report symptoms to their parents because their relationships with them have deteriorated. But when they do not, and they choose to suffer in silence instead, they typically opt for other ways to treat those symptoms. This is known as self-medicating behaviors.
Teens will turn to many different types of drugs to get relief for their symptoms. These include, but they are not limited to:
They feel as though they have no other choice but to try to help themselves. But what they do not realize is that they can quickly get addicted, and the relief they felt in the beginning does not last.
Treating co-occurring disorders is one of the most important parts of addiction treatment for teenagers. When these conditions are ignored, the young person has a much lower chance of being successful in recovery. More often than not, they end up relapsing.