The one charm of the past is that it is the past. ~Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
For teenagers with substance abuse problems, there are fewer treatment options than for adults. A new study finds that treatment programs designed specifically for this age group are often lacking in specialized services. Of the more than 700 treatment programs surveyed in the study, less than one-third had services targeted to teenagers – with some programs completely excluding this demographic. Other programs only integrated teenagers with adult patients.
The Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment found that among programs for teenagers, the quality was simply fair. According to the researcher, Dr. Hannah Knudsen, of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, the poor quality of such programs helps to explain why most teenagers who need substance abuse treatment do not get the necessary treatment.
“We have known that out of 1.4 million teens needing help for substance abuse, one tenth of those get treatment,” Knudsen said in a news release. “Part of this treatment gap may be driven by the limited availability of adolescent-only treatment services.”
For the study, Knudsen interviewed managers at 154 centers across the country. She discovered that on average, the programs offered only half of the components considered to be integral markers of high-quality, comprehensive care for substance abuse. Few programs scored high in all quality “domains” such as whether the program involved families in the treatment program, or offered services like treatment of depression and other mental health disorders.
“The lack of comprehensive services in substance abuse programs for teens raises questions about whether teens will get what they need, since we know they [teens] are likely to have co-occuring psychiatric conditions and to engage in HIV risk behaviors.”
Knudsen did find that 30 percent of treatment programs that included intensive inpatient or residential treatment – not just outpatient services – ranked higher in quality than outpatient-only programs. “For parents who are looking for high-quality programs that offer the most comprehensive array of services, a good proxy indicator is whether that organization has an inpatient or residential level of care.”
Unfortunately, parents may find it tough finding such treatment programs, according to Knudsen. The limited availability of adolescent-only services, in general, Knudsen writes, “raises a significant barrier to helping adolescents who have substance abuse disorders.”