Teens who participate in residential treatment programs for drug and alcohol abuse benefit from attending support meetings as part of their aftercare, according to a new study from Harvard University.

Even attending a few Alcohol Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings improved long-term outcomes; in fact, researchers concluded that going to just one meeting translated to about two days of abstinence.

Dr. John Kelly of the MGH-Harvard Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital tracked 160 teenagers who had remained for four to six weeks in residential treatment programs. He and his team then reassessed them six months later, and then again one, two, four, six and eight years later.

Teens who attended AA and/or NA meetings in the first six months after rehabilitation had better long-term outcomes. The study found those teens with severe addictions and those who believed they could not use drugs or alcohol in moderation were more likely to attend most frequently. However, attending even once a week helped - and participating in three meetings a week was associated with complete abstinence.

"This suggests that youth may not need to attend as frequently as every day, [which is] sometimes recommended clinically, to achieve very good outcomes," said Dr. Kelly, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

This study appears in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Labels: AA, NA, recovery

When he was a 10th grader, Ryan Truax spent most of his time high on various kinds of drugs. What started with marijuana and alcohol eventually evolved into ecstasy and cocaine. It was only after he'd been arrested on drug-related charges that he got serious about turning his life around.

"Truax, who will graduate from Century High School today, has now been sober for 21 months. He received a Turnaround Achievement award in May for his work to overcome issues with chemical dependency."

The turnaround wasn't easy, and included stays at two different treatment facilities. Ryan has recently started an addiction support group for teenagers and has as many as 15 kids show up to the meetings. He says that helping others overcome their addictions helps him "ensure [his] sobriety". Source: Post-Bulletin - Rochester, Minnesota

Labels: graduations, recovery, substance_abuse

Recovery from an addiction is hard for both men and women. But women often have unique sets of issues that can make recovery much more difficult. Many women who have been sexually or otherwise physically abused turn to drugs or alcohol as coping mechanisms. They often suffer from nearly-debilitating depression. Add to that the victimization that can happen to a woman who's trying to 'score' her next hit, and women seeking to recovery are often broken emotionally and psychologically.

"Those pieces don't magically mend just because someone puts down the drink or the drug. In some cases, the withdrawal of the substance can cause all of those old psychological wounds to being to fester anew. And those issues... have implications as to how much a person is able to recover."

Unfortunately, most recovery programs are based on male experiences. Alcohol Anonymous' 12-Step program, for example, can conflict with the ways that women are often taught to deal with domestic violence.

Copper Canyon Academy is a private boarding school for girls in Arizona. Learn more about their residential treatment program for struggling girls.

Labels: addicts, girls, recovery