Many people believe that if a person is struggling with addiction, the best course of action is to try to help them by sending them to rehab. However, it has been shown that for young people, ages 11-18, rehab can actual worsen their addiction rather than help cure it. One of the harmful aspects of rehab is that they give the young adults the message that they are forever diseased (addicted). The kids believe that they will never get better and that there is no hope for them (Saint Jude Retreats). Once they have become demoralized, it becomes harder for them to pull themselves away from the substance. In addition, going to rehab gives many kids an identity, and they now believe that they are addicted to drugs and alcohol and that is all they will ever be. They feel that it is who they are now.
While many advertisements like this boast of a new beginning, many of these new beginnings are not in the direction you want your teen to been headed in. When a young, impressionable kid goes to rehab while their older peers, the "veterans" often glorify bigger and badder drugs. Soon the new kid falls victim to experienced drug dealers who go to drug rehab just to get other people hooked (Time). Also, many sexual predators lurk around teen rehab because they know that teen are vulnerable and many need a way to get money to buy drugs. In addition to that, rehab does not always fix teen's problems, in fact, often, it does not. In a recent study, out of 299 students who were at rehab, 82% went back to drinking and drugs, and out of the 50 kids who stayed abstinent: 54% were overtly unstable, 24% had no interest in life, 12% replaced addiction with a new purpose, and 10% were independent successes (Addiction Recovery Success Rates).
Sources:
1. http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2013/12/30/12171297/NB_Adol_Recov_Cntr_logo.jpg
2. http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2003160,00.html
3.http://www.soberforever.net/different-treatment.cfm
4.http://www.add-and-addiction.com/Drug-and-alcohol-rehab.html
5.http://www.thefix.com/content/evan-ebel-murder-colorado-police-chief-paradise-cove8162?page=all
