Application Of Songwriting Intervention At My Outpatient Adolescent Group Last Month

For the entirety of my life, my father has struggled with alcoholism. My father’s addiction left me and my family with no choice but to separate ourselves from him eight years ago. For those eight years, I resented the man we had left. How could I not? His alcoholism, his selfish addiction, had taken my childhood memories of laughter and happiness, and left me with ones of worry and fear. I wondered how he could be selfish enough to idly watch his family suffer as a result of him.

I came home one day to see both of my parents sad. As a third grader, I didn’t completely understand at the time, but my father had been laid off from the job he’d had since his teenage years. My father had started at the age of eighteen as a student worker at Southern Miss, and after years of hard work he had been promoted to the manager of shipping and receiving on campus. When the recession struck, the need to save money resulted in his position being terminated. My father was without a job. My father loved that job and when he lost it, he changed. He found a new love, alcohol. He let his love for alcohol become an addiction. He would do anything for alcohol; he even had secret stashes when my mom had removed all the prior alcohol from the house. Quickly my father became a violent drunk and began to routinely beat my mother and me. He became unstoppable; no person could get him back on track so my mother, in an attempt to keep me safe, removed him from the house. Even my mother’s best efforts weren’t always enough, as my father constantly broke into our house. One day my mother and I came home and my father was waiting in our den with a gun. We walked in, he pointed the gun at us, and then back at himself. He couldn’t decide to kill my mother, himself, or just all of us. He had more hatred in his eyes

The majority of children living in a dysfunctional family with a drug addicted parent will not develop a secure attachment with another individual, where the relationship revolves around intimacy and mutual understanding. Parents who are codependent on each other have learned to regard the dysfunction as normal, and their children could be susceptible to numerous scenarios. They could become the target of their parent’s abuse, either sexual or physical. The children of codependent parents could easily gain access to drugs or alcohol since no one is paying attention to the child. The codependent parents are preoccupied with the alcoholic or drug addicted parent, and they might never bother to realize their child is in grave danger. The codependent parent’s children might never recover fully from the trauma, abuse, or neglect inflicted on them. In addition, the children learn to become adults who repeat the vicious cycle of domestic violence or abuse themselves. Children of codependent parent might grow resilient despite

Although all sorts of families can be devastated by addiction, but single parent units (the most common lower class structure) are the most obscured. Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches supports, “In every family unit, each person plays a role (or multiple roles) to help the family function better and to maintain a level of homeostasis, stability and balance. When substance abuse is added to this dynamic, the family roles naturally shift to adjust to the new behaviors associated with drug or alcohol use, and to continue maintaining order and balance.”4 In single parent units there is an inability of a second parent to fill the void role of the addicted parent. The National Center for Biotechnology Information states, “Frequently, children may act as surrogate spouses for the parent who abuses substances. For example, [young] children may develop elaborate systems of denial to protect themselves against that reality of the parent’s addiction. Because that option does not exist in a single‐parent household with a parent who abuses substances, children are likely to behave in a manner that is not age‐appropriate to compensate for the parental deficiency.”2 So a child growing up in a compromised family unit where addiction is present may develop altered norms and mature into an addict themselves.4

Nic’s addiction had a severe impact on the Sheff family. The family dynamic changed due to the separation of Nic’s parents, which was emotionally stressful for Nic and maybe contributing factor towards Nic’s start to addiction. It is shown that “changes in any part of [a family] system affects the entire system. When life-altering changes occur, such as a family member leaving or divorce, the changes reverberate throughout the system” (Steenrod, 2014). Even though the divorce occurred within the parental subsystem and before Nic’s drug addiction began, the change still affected him and the stress of the change perpetuated through his adolescence. Usually, the father-son subsystem is examined with the father being the one who has the addiction, but in Nic’s circumstance the roles are reversed. “Individuals who are drug-impaired may be

The crippling effects of alcoholism and drug dependency are not confined to the addict alone. The family suffers,

One issue that has made me passionate about social work is substance abuse, an issue that has made a deep impact for communities everywhere. Not only does it affect the mental and physical health of the individual, but it also burdens the friends, family, and community as a whole. This concern is a personal interest because of my mother and grandfather’s past struggle with alcoholism, as well as because of a childhood friend who was killed by a drunk underage driver on her second offense. While my mother won her fight against her addiction during the time that she was in therapy for depression, I know the tragic effects of addiction firsthand from my grandfather’s death from the consequences of alcoholism and my friend’s death at the wheels of a drunk driver. I wish to address and understand this social issue in detail during and after graduate school.

Andy’s story is just one of many examples as to how the issue of ignoring mental illnesses can negatively affect individuals, especially the youth. One of the biggest issues related to these unchecked mental illnesses is suicide. Between the ages of 15 to 24, suicide is the second leading cause of death. The Center for Disease Control estimates that: “17% of students seriously considered attempting suicide in the previous 12 months, 13.6% of students made a plan about how they would attempt suicide in the

In life things do not always go as planned, sometimes we make some tough choices, which may cause burdens to the ones that love us the most our family (Intervention Videos, 2012). I will be conducting a family analysis on twenty- one-year-old Kaylene from Bernardsville, North Carolina (Intervention Videos, 2012). Kaylene has been battling her drug addiction since the age of thirteen where she started using cocaine and marijuana (Intervention Videos, 2012). For five years now she has been addicted to prescription drugs and she also sells them for money. It all began in Kaylene’s childhood she was abused as a child for some of the simplest things by her estranged father who was an alcoholic at

Inside my family structure, my mother’s parents struggled with addiction. My grandmother, Ellen Sweeney, who has since deceased, was addicted to opiates, and my grandfather, Wayne Smith, who has also passed away, was an alcoholic. My mom was one of five children, her siblings included, Margaret “Markie”, the eldest, , Catherine “Kerrie”, the second eldest, my mother, Marian, the middle child, Amy, the second youngest, and lastly, Matt, the youngest. Moreover, my mother and my aunt Margaret “Markie” Smith have also battled alcoholism and my aunt Amy has since been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Due to my mother’s family struggle with alcoholism, addiction, and mental disorder, my mother’s childhood was particularly difficult. Not only was she undoubtedly influenced by her parent’s substance abuse when she was a child, but it has continues to affect her as an adult raising her own children.

Patient is a 53-year-old female who presented to the ED after a attempt to commit suicide by cutting both her wrist. Patient stated: "I don't care about my life, I can die and it would not matter to me." Patient becomes tearful and expresses when she was cutting her wrist she didn't die. LEO brought patient into the ED from DayMark recovery services under IVC. At the time of assessment, patient endorses feeling suicidal with a plan. Patient reports health, conflict with neighbors, and financial issues as the primary factors contributing to her current distress. Patient reports having a history of suicide attempts by overdose, the last being "years ago". Patient reports no hospitalizations from incidents. Patient reports a history of domestic

Road to Recovery (YouTube, 2006) shows friends (peers) were also a major infliuence on teens sober desisions and the Adolescent Addict (HBO, 2015) contributes family as major influeince on teens sobriety desicions. Although

In adulthood, though, they will be expected to achieve independence and make choices about school, work, and personal relationships that will affect every aspect of their future. For some young people, the usual challenges of adolescence are compounded by difficult family situations, overcrowded classrooms, disintegrating neighborhoods, or exposure to alcohol or other drugs. Without support and guidance, these young people may fall victim to behaviors that place them, and others, at risk. In our society, those behaviors include dropping out of school, running away from home, joining gangs, and using alcohol or drugs or becoming involved in other law-breaking behaviors. Some youth may become despondent, leading to academic problems, social isolation, or self-destructive behavior. (http://www.ncfy.com/supporti.htm)

When my sister hit her teenage years, she hit a slippery slope of partying and drugs. Our family went through some hardships with Jelly’s drug and alcohol addiction. Jail time, drug rehab, in and out patient; however, my mother and I stood by Jelly’s side through it all. We were working on mending our family wounds when it happened. An old love and drug buddy of my mothers, Jeff, had kept in contact with her over the years. Still a frequent drug user, Jeff somehow convinced my mother to let him move in with us. Jeff was not just a drug addict; he was a thief, a liar, and a woman beater, as we would soon find out.

This essay covers the definition of a family, how addiction can change the role of the family, the impact of substance abuse in pregnancy, the lack of bonding between parents and children and the consequences of this. I will look at the parentification of children due to a lack of