Teenage alcohol and drug use is a problem that will continue without proper detection and treatment. The usage patterns have stabilized in some ways due to COVID-19. The National Institute on Drug Abuse indicates that substance use stabilized in 2022. However, SAMHSA reports that while cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin usage is not growing, prescription usage is rising quickly.
Most programs (and families) try to understand why teens use drugs. One approach is to look at the causes. CHOC produced an article outlining some of these reasons, such as peer pressure, trauma, genetics, etc. However, while causes are valuable, they miss the real motive behind drug use.
Functional Behavior Analysis or FBA, also known as Functional Behavior Assessment, is a way to evaluate the client’s behaviors and determine the function or reason for their occurrence. The practitioner evaluates the client by observing them while gathering information from the client and others. Then the practitioner looks at the antecedent to the behavior (what triggered it), the behavior itself, and the consequence of the behavior (what did it do for the client). Knowing these steps helps to strategize different approaches.
Getting back to drug use, what might be the functions of it or the reasons a client may do it? Five functions of FBA can explain the behavior, as follows:
Connection – a teen may use drugs to feel part of a group, feel connected, to socialize. Teens that need connection will use drugs to be in a peer group, have something in common with other teens, and feel accepted by this group. The practitioner must work with the teen on their socialization and communication skills to change the behavior. Then directing and assisting the teen in finding other non-using friends will guide them to improve their social skills.
Escape – some teens who experience trauma use to run away from the inner feelings they have emotionally. Drugs numb them so they do not feel the trauma triggers. The practitioner must teach the teen how to cope with the emotions, find mindfulness skills to mitigate them and help them feel stronger by walking through their fears.
Control – teens who need control believe no one protects them, so they must be in charge. Using drugs makes them feel in control. In this case, the practitioner must get a support network around the teen so they do not feel alone and that others can help them with their problems.
Stimulation – because drugs put the teen in an altered state, they like the feeling compared to the pain and angst of growing up. It helps them with their moods and to feel more aroused or calmer. The practitioner can help them develop other physical or mental health activities that replicate these feelings. Sports, mindfulness, as with the Escape function, and sensory integration exercises are examples of interventions.
Access – when teens need independence, they turn to drugs. The teen may use drugs to be defiant to adults, feel the need to be free, and do something that adults disapprove of. The practitioner can help the teen learn social communication and other skills that give them freedom.
These are some examples of how learning the function of the teen’s drug use improves the strategies to work with them. FBA is an excellent approach to use with this challenge.
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Dan Thorne has unique perspectives on the field of mental health. As a clinician, he has had over 40 years of experience working with clients in the Southern California area. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Irvine, he worked with children in the Orange County Juvenile Hall. Here he honed his earliest techniques on at-risk children. After that, he obtained his Master’s degree in Counseling from California State University, Fullerton.
In the 1990’s, Dan turned his attention to the clinical and administrative side of behavioral health organizations. For three years, he was the Assistant Administrator of Starting Point, a chemical dependency facility in Costa Mesa, CA. In 2001, he took an opportunity to be the Director of Harbor View Community Services Center in Long Beach. When he arrived, the Center had only 80 clients and 13 staff. When he left, there were over 400 clients and 75 staff. Dan created several programs through their contract with the Los Angeles County Departments of Mental Health and Child and Family Services. Under his guidance, Harbor View became one of the leading providers of children’s services in Los Angeles County.
While improving the results of the client’s parents at the Center, Dan reflected on his experiences as a parent. His children themselves had special needs such as mental and intellectual challenges, and Dan knew the toll it takes on the parent. In order to help the child, the parent has to be healthy. From this concept, he created his parenting program. After years of refining it, teaching it to his staff at the Center, and then taking the results and comments from these efforts, he became the developer of the current PRAXES program. It is a culmination of Dan’s personal trials and tribulations as a parent along with empirical results and research of over 40 parenting programs.
Our vision at PRAXES is to advance the strength of parents and caregivers of children with special needs (mental health, intellectual, or physical) through education, support, and empowerment. Thus, they can live healthy and functional lives while caring for the child.
Apogee is a clinical decision software designed to help behavioral health practitioners with their treatment and patient engagement. It provides evidence-based and research-based components. Not only do they consist of elements from such practices as Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Seeking Safety, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Functional Behavior Analysis, but also the Intensive Models for Parents, Youth, and Children.
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