Alcohol Addiction In Teens
Posted on Oct 26, 2009 under Alcoholism | No Comment
It is no secret that teens across America experiment with alcohol everyday. Statistics say it is common for most teenagers to have experimented with drugs and/or alcohol by their freshman year of high school. It is an alarming change from even twenty years ago. Each year, kids are finding drugs and alcohol earlier than the generation preceding them.Being the most easily accessible, alcohol is sometimes found in their parents home, their friend’s homes or provided to them by someone of legal age. This opens the gateway to continued experimentation, eventual dependence and ultimately addiction. Tragically, it is possible for a teenager to be a full blown alcoholic before the day of their high school graduation.In the beginning years of Alcoholics Anonymous, there were requirements an alcoholic had to meet before being accepted as a “member”. (There are no requirements today other than a desire to stop drinking) The alcoholic had to be hopeless, on skid row and at least the age of 42. As the program flourished, they quickly found numerous individuals who were much younger yet suffered from the disease. Today, it is common to find many teenagers at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Many of them are there for themselves and not for the courts, their parents or any other reason other than to stay sober.Then there are those teens that are addicted to alcohol and may not realize it yet. They drink heavily most every chance they get and probably surround themselves with other teenagers that drink like them. They may be a part of crowd that is potentially, if not already, alcoholic. Most recovering alcoholics today share very similar stories of drinking heavily as a teenager and continuing on for years.If a teenager thinks they may have a problem, they probably do. It is vitally important to listen to a teenager or for that matter anyone, who is asking for help or questioning whether or not they have a problem. It should never be taken lightly. For them, it can very possibly be a life or death issue.There is a misconception, especially among non-alcoholics, that a teenager is too young to become an alcoholic. Some recovering alcoholics can look back through their teenage years and see that they too were drinking alcoholically then. It is true that most teenagers won’t come to grips with their drinking problems until much later in life. But for other teenagers, they have hit a bottom that wakes them up to the fact that they suffer from a disease and are an alcoholic. That bottom can take any number of different forms. It is different for everyone.It is possible for a teenager these days to have experienced the emotional bottoms that many long time alcoholics have experienced. Alcoholism does not discriminate against its victims. It is an all inclusive disease, crossing into all age groups. If a teenager thinks they have a drinking problem, they should be assisted in finding help. There are many young people Alcoholics Anonymous groups available today all across the country. They are living their teenage years as it was intended to be, free of alcohol and happy.
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