Treatment Effectiveness

Treatment Centers For Inhalant Addiction

While there are many treatment centers throughout the country for addiction, it is not always easy to find one that is the best for inhalant addiction for adolescents. Finding a suitable treatment center influences the effectiveness of the treatment. The Addiction Center offers a rehab directory that can be searched for services appropriate for adolescents. https://www.addictioncenter.com/treatment/drug-and-alcohol-detox/

In addition to standard addiction treatment, teens may need assistance with education, co-occurring mental health conditions, family life, and more for effective recovery. https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/teens.

The following are NIDA, 2020 recommendations for increasing effective treatment:

• Behavioral therapies are effective in addressing adolescent drug use. Behavioral therapies, delivered by trained clinicians, help adolescents stay off drugs by strengthening their motivation to change.
• Families and the community are essential aspects of treatment. The support of family members is vital for an adolescent's recovery. Several evidence-based interventions for adolescent drug abuse seek to strengthen family relationships by improving communication and improving family members' ability to support abstinence from drugs.
• Effectively treating substance use disorders in adolescents requires identifying and treating any other mental health conditions they may have.  Adolescents who abuse drugs, particularly those involved in the juvenile justice system, should be screened for other psychiatric disorders. Treatment for these problems should be integrated with the treatment for a substance use disorder.
  
• Sensitive issues such as violence and child abuse or the risk of suicide should be identified and addressed. Many adolescents who abuse drugs have a history of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse or other trauma.
  
• Staying in treatment for an adequate time and continuity of care afterward are essential. The minimal length of drug treatment depends on the type and extent of the adolescent's problems, but studies show outcomes are better when a person stays in treatment for three months or more.
  

Emphasizing risk
Between 2019 and 2021, 8th and 10th graders demonstrated a considerable decrease in perceived risk for experimental use of inhalants. These declines leave future class cohorts at risk for a resurgence of inhalant use and correspond to a turnaround in actual use (Johnston et al, 2022).
https://monitoringthefuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/mtf-overview2021.pdf

Ongoing recovery and relapse

Relapse after rehabilitation can occur with inhalant abuse. The Addiction Center recommends therapy and support groups be continued. There are two main focuses for ongoing recovery – physical issues associated with the chronic abuse of inhalants and the social and psychological problems that precipitated the use of inhalants.

Here are some of the benefits of ongoing support and therapy:
• Adolescents are rarely able to fully recover on their own.
• Support motivates teens to stay clean
• Prescriptions for medication can help them manage their condition and find successful recovery.
https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/inhalants/treatment/

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (2005), treatment for inhalant abusers is usually long-term, sometimes as long as two years. It must address the many social problems most inhalant abusers have and involves:

• Support of the child's family
  
• Moving the child away from unhealthy friendships with other abusers
  
• Teaching and fostering practical coping skills
  
• Building self-esteem and self-confidence
  
• Helping the child adjust to school or another learning setting

Relapse

Relapse after treatment of teenagers is influenced by the following physical and physiological conditions:

• Difficulty controlling reactivity in emotional situations due to incomplete development of the prefrontal cortex and other brain regions.
• Stressful situations lead to an increased hormonal response with increased reactivity by teens.
• The age at which substance abuse started, with earlier ages increasing the likelihood of long-term substance use.

Impulse control

Previous research on teenagers described a lack of full development of the prefrontal cortex and other brain regions involved in impulse control, willpower, and healthy decision-making. The saying 'all gasoline, no brakes, and no steering wheel' as being an apt description of impulse control is no longer valid. More recent studies by Casey and Caudle (2013) found these descriptions of teens as only reflecting their behavior in heated situations but not in cool, less immediate, and less emotional ones. The researchers found in less emotional cases, and the teen appears to be capable of acting rationally and making optimal decisions comparable to or even better than some adults.

The authors further explain that adolescents have difficulty suppressing responses to emotionally stimulating social cues in the heat of the moment.
https://www.mentalhelp.net/substance-abuse/inhalants/relapse-prevention/.

Stress

According to Romeo (2013), the physiological and psychological implications of stress on the adolescent brain are far from clear. There is evidence that stress increases reactivity during adolescence. That increased reactivity is related to significant shifts in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity, resulting in heightened stress-induced hormonal responses. This ultimately leads to adolescents being vulnerable to a lack of control when stressed.

Age of starting drug use
According to Jordan and Andersen (2017), long-term substance use varies according to when teens initiate the use of inhalants and other drugs.

• Teens who initiate substance use before the age of 14 are at the greatest risk for substance dependence, with a 34% prevalence rate of lifetime substance use.
• Initiating use between 13 and 21 years, the likelihood of lifetime substance abuse and dependence drops 4–5% for each year that initiation of substance use is delayed.
  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929316301931

Patterns leading to addiction are hard to erase, and recovering from substance abuse involves more than simple abstinence. Relapses are common during a person's recovery. During treatment, many of the stresses of everyday life are removed. Returning to the previous life may produce all of the old problems.

The warning signs of relapse include returning to old habits, friends, hangouts, or denial. An example of denial is "I no longer have to worry about using inhalants." Without ongoing support, the person's coping mechanisms may be too fragile to resist returning to old patterns.

Recommended aftercare takes a variety of forms. It often includes a structured plan for relapse prevention and active participation in treatment issues.

• Support Group - Groups such as NA or AA use a 12-step approach to help the recovering person develop a different lifestyle.
  
• Sponsor - Each newly recovering person will benefit from having a sponsor or support person.

There are addiction centers located throughout the U.S.  The American Addiction Centers can be located on their website at this web address - https://americanaddictioncenters.org/treatment-centers

These centers are listed on SAMHSA's Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator, which requires a facility to be licensed and/or accredited by their respective state or national accrediting agency.  These facilities are certified by the Joint Commission or CARF.