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When a person is abusing drugs or alcohol, he seldom stops to think about how his substance abuse affects the family, specifically his children. The person’s compulsion to use clouds his awareness of his impact on the youngsters that depend upon him.  Almost 10 million of our nation’s children live in a household with at least one parent who abuses alcohol or drugs. About 2 million children have a parent in jail.

The normal child needs clothing, food, and shelter from his parent. During the course of the day he expresses his need for comfort or reassurance, food, an extra blanket or sweater, or just some playful interaction with his parent. The parent who is numbed by his drug of choice—or preoccupied with getting his next high—misses the normal cues sent by his child. The youngster’s cues gradually decrease, and he disengages from his parent.

• He becomes distrustful as well as disinterested in learning from his parent.
• His understanding of normal behaviors demonstrated by others will not develop, and he will not be able to form good relationships when he gets older.
• He loses confidence in himself. His undeveloped social skills mean that he will likely fail in his schoolwork or in socializing with peers.
• He grows up to be oblivious to the emotional needs of others. He feels little concern or remorse if he hurts other people’s feelings.

These are the developmental issues that children suffer when a parent’s substance abuse affects the family. Just how do such problems manifest?  

• The typical child of an alcoholic or drug addict suffers from anxiety and depression.
• He becomes embarrassed about the drug-using parent. He doesn’t bring friends home, he doesn’t ask for help with homework, and he doesn’t come to his parents with questions about health or safety issues or even sex.
• In school, he does poorly on achievement tests and he shows little interest in developing a plan for college or other success in life.
• He suffers from lack of parental supervision, resulting in a disregard for curfews and acceptable teenage behavior.
• He mimics the behaviors modeled by his parent—substance abuse is an acceptable behavior for him.

In many households, a dynamic called parentification occurs: The child by default must take over parenting roles that the drug-using parent is not fulfilling. An older child may have to look after younger siblings. He may have to do cleaning or cooking that a parent would normally do. In extreme cases, a child finds a way to augment household income by dealing drugs or engaging in some other kind of illegal activity.

There are other cases of parentification in which the child provides for the emotional needs of others in his family. He is expected to offer comfort to his parent and also to his younger siblings. One or both of the parents saddle the child by confiding inappropriate information to him. He becomes the mediator when his parents are arguing.

Drug abuse is a selfish thing. The drug abuser thinks only of getting his next high. Expected to attend the son’s basketball playoff game? Well, that falls by the wayside when Joe is waiting at the bar. Dance recital time for the daughter? Too bad rehearsal starts at 11 a.m.—it’s just not possible to make that with such a roaring hangover. People tell themselves they are too depressed to go somewhere, but they’re really just lying in bed crashing from their last high and thinking about the next one. Is that what’s happening in your household? Maybe it’s time to get help.

The Texas courts are working out a deal for Ryan Leaf, convicted of abusing pain medication in Texas when he was coaching the quarterbacks at West Texas A&M way back in 2008. It’s possible this former QB, identified by the NFL network as the biggest all-time NFL quarterback bust, will be permitted to serve his sentence concomitantly with the sentence he is now serving in his home state of Montana.

Leaf’s career took off like a rocket during his junior year at Washington State University—he quit his senior year to be signed by the San Diego Chargers. However, his cocky attitude garnered him little favor among his teammates. Winning his first two games in the NFL, he completed only one of fifteen passes in his third game and then was caught on film hollering at a camera operator after the game.  The next day, he screamed at a reporter. After his fourth game he was benched. The next season, he missed the start because of a shoulder injury. He was fined and suspended shortly afterward for hollering obscenities at his team’s general manager.

His third season saw him with a wrist injury, ironically sustained while throwing an interception, which plagued him for the next couple years and eventually required surgery. He played for Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Seattle—seeing little actual time on the field—and retired just before training camp got underway in 2002. He had only four career wins and fifteen losses.

Some speculate that his unrelenting, overall poor attitude resulted in a reluctance on the part of coaches to help him with physical therapy that could have helped him come back from his injuries.  Regardless of the truth in that, he ended up on pain medication therapy that graduated into addiction.

Leaf eventually returned to Washington State, earned his degree, and worked as a financial consultant in San Diego. However, he took a job coaching Texas A&M’s quarterbacks in 2006. In 2008, he resigned when a story broke that he asked a player to give him a pain pill.

In the spring of 2009, still in Texas, Leaf was arrested for burglary and for attempting to obtain a controlled substance fraudulently. He was doctor-hopping in the hopes of getting enough hydrocodone to satisfy his addiction, and there was evidence he had burgled an apartment, although this latter charge eventually was dropped. By the time the indictment was issued, he had conveniently checked himself into a rehab center in Canada.  When he returned to Washington, he was arrested, and he posted bond for his charges in Texas. In 2010, he received ten years’ probation for the felony charges.

Early in 2012 in Montana, he was arrested twice in a four-day span for burglary, theft, and drug charges. He plea-bargained this down to one felony for burglary and one count of criminal possession of a dangerous drug.  His prison sentence of nine years included nine months of lock-down residential substance abuse treatment, and if he complied with treatment, two years of his sentence would be suspended.

However, toward the end of his treatment period, he violated the rules of the facility and then in his typical blustery fashion threatened a staff person at the facility, which won him a ticket back to the state prison.  Leaf is a shining example of the immature personality with passive-aggressive (in Leaf’s case, mostly aggressive) behaviors that often accompany addiction issues. Maybe in addition to settling on a sentence for abusing pain killers in Texas, the court will finally order some treatment for his co-occurring emotional disorders.

Massage therapies have been long considered as alternative forms of treatment. Even then, what kind of treatment it is, is still in question. But even then, the results from massage therapies have never been in doubt. It is often a part of substance abuse treatment because it is effective, even if how it becomes necessary has always been vague. Ask any athlete – the situation has just always been so.

However, slowly but surely, science is making strides into what exactly makes massage therapy effective. Studies are providing more evidence, and in turn, massage therapies are becoming better tools as part of the treatment for drug addiction.

The Connection Between Dopamine and Massage Therapy

Dopamine is a known trigger of drug abuse. By associating natural pleasure responses of the human body with addictive substances, a person is more likely to repeat the behavior.  As this behavior continues the individual begins the path to addiction. Although the correlation between dopamine and addictions weakens over time, dopamine undoubtedly plays a role in forming one.

Studies show that massage therapies also increase the natural dopamine levels in the human body. According to the 1998 publication of the Touch Research Institute, prolonged application of massage therapies can enhance the production of dopamine without resorting to chemical means. This is a naturally occurring result, and can be invaluable as a part of natural pain management in a patient's recovery during drug rehab treatment.

Relief from Stress and Increased Levels of Cortisol

The other side of the coin in massage therapy increasing dopamine levels is the reduction of cortisol in the patient. These two effects go hand in hand. A study done in the same institution five years after the dopamine-massage therapy relationship was found indicates that the production of cortisol, a hormonal response to stress in the human body, decreased after massages. The effect is immediate, and unlike with dopamine, has no need for long term application of massages.

For the average person, stress is already among the top list of killers – for a recovering addict, even more so. The slightest benefit from any form of medication or therapy to reduce stress can be crucial. When it is as dependable and as simple as a massage to limit the production of cortisol, any recovering patient from substance abuse should take full advantage of it.

Massages and the Mitochondria

Just recently, another relevant discovery about the benefits of massage therapy was made. A study published in Science Translational Medicine in February 2012 found a strong relationship between mitochondrial regeneration and massages. The mitochondria are known to be the powerhouse of the cell, and the regeneration could explain the relaxing and soothing feeling felt during and after massages.

While the applications of the finding are many, for the recovering patient, massages are not only for pain or stress management anymore. Massage therapy can improve patient recovery at the cellular level.

Pain, Stress and Energy

The benefits of massage therapies are clear. Now, with substance abuse treatment, one can point specifically when and where the therapy is needed, and not just blindly use the therapy. The best part about the therapy is it can still be a part of post-rehabilitation care.  Massage therapy may still be considered alternative therapy, but with the science behind it today, the therapy has more of a future in the treatment for recovery.

Two men were arrested last month to the tune of a total 30 total combined DWI arrests. Todd Turrietta and Johnny Ignacio both were arrested 15 times each for DWI-related incidents, but their sentencing for the 15th arrest could be no more severe than the first under New Mexico law. How does this act as a deterrent to prevent further drunk driving offenses? Simply stated: it doesn’t.

Lawmakers want to make a change and are pushing to increase the severity for each punishment. Right now, by state law, New Mexico citizens can expect the same time for the crime, no matter if they are repeat DWI offenders or not. In Albuquerque, however, the laws are more severe. Many state officials and citizens would like to see New Mexico as a whole go towards the direction of Albuquerque’s drunk driving laws.

Albuquerque law allows courts to take away the DWI convict’s car and increased jail or prison time for a repeat offense. Each felony conviction of DWI would count against the newest charge, making 10- or 15-year prison sentences a possibility for those who have repeatedly driven under the influence.

According to Governor Susana Martinez, repeat offenders should be punished in a stricter fashion. “Obviously (repeat offenders) haven't taken advantage of the treatment that is being provided by law (and) need to stay off the streets,” Martinez said. The treatment she mentions is New Mexico substance abuse treatment that was more than likely part of their sentencing.

Treatment available to DWI offenders can include substance abuse treatment at an alcohol rehabilitation program. For many DWI convicts, New Mexico’s own Vista Taos Renewal Center is an excellent option for substance abuse treatment. It will only be a matter of time before the laws are brought into effect and those who are convicted will face greater sentences for their DWI crimes. Don’t wait until a judge orders you into substance abuse treatment; seek one out before you end up behind bars. To learn more about an alcohol rehabilitation program in New Mexico, contact Vista Taos Renewal Center to discuss how the program can help you.

Citizens caught driving drunk in 15 US states may face the issuance of a vehicle interlock system as part of their penalty, effective Jan. 1. On the first of January, Connecticut became the 15th state to require the interlock system for all drivers – even first time offenders – who are convicted of driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) above the legal limit.

Other states also participate in the interlock program, to a lesser degree; 24 other states require that repeat offenders or highly drunk drivers (those with a BAC above 0.15) have the interlock system installed in their cars after conviction.

The interlock system is a device that is installed into the ignition of the car. When installed, the car cannot be started until the driver cleanly blows into a breathalyzer. A sober driver may drive; a driver influenced by alcohol may not.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the group that has most heavily pushed for the state-mandated interlock system, believes that the device can save lives. If a driver who is under the influence of alcohol tries to start his car, he will not be able to until he sobers up, meaning that fewer drunk drivers will be on the road to cause harm.

As more and more states join the current 15 who immediately issue interlock systems for any driver convicted of driving while drunk, more people speculate that other states will join the less lenient program – or even require the system be installed in all cars, regardless of a drunk driving conviction.

The interlock system is only one step to keeping drunk drivers off the roads. Helping alcoholics recover at a substance abuse treatment center is also integral to minimizing drunk driving. Substance abuse treatment centers can help alcoholics realize how much harm drunk driving can cause.

For more information about alcohol rehab, please call Vista Taos Renewal Center, a premier substance abuse treatment center located in New Mexico, one of the first states to require the interlock devices for drunk driving offenders.