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PDFA Roadmap to Recovery: Wilderness Therapy Teaches Teens Skills to Prevent Relapse
When a person goes back to using drugs or alcohol after working hard to get clean and sober, it can be mystifying and heartbreaking to the people around them. How did the recovering addict miss the warning signs?
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Freeing Teens from the Grip of Prescription Drug Abuse
By Meghan Vivo
“Pharm parties” and celebrity overdoses are the big attention grabbers in the media, but much of the damage inflicted by prescription drugs stems from their daily, run-of-the-mill use. Chronic abuse of prescription medications can lead not only to dependence and addiction, but also to health problems such as depressed breathing, irregular heartbeat, seizures and slowed brain function.
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Treating Teen Depression with Wilderness Therapy
By Meghan Vivo
There are a lot of options for treating teen depression, but are some methods more effective than others? Which type of treatment is your teen most likely to be an active participant in?
One of the most effective and innovative ways to treat teen depression does not take place in an office setting or come from a doctor’s prescription – it takes place under the open sky of the Utah desert.
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The Benefits of Wilderness Therapy for Teens with ADHD, Asperger’s
and Nonverbal Learning Disorder
Meghan Vivo
Teens act out for all kinds of reasons. Some become angry and defiant because of their parents’ divorce, some start using drugs or alcohol to fit in with a certain peer group, and some immerse themselves in video games, gambling or the Internet to cope with problems at school.
Disorders such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), nonverbal learning disorder (NLD) and Asperger’s syndrome can also be at the core of a teen’s behavioral issues. Parents know they need help, but they aren’t sure where to turn.
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Creating Peace with Peace
Ryan J. Anderson, Ph.D., LMFT
The day I first met Ed was pretty unforgettable. While many students go through what I call a “shock and awe” period as the fact that they are now in the wilderness begins to really sink in, Ed seemed determined to break some kind of record for the most memorable and most tumultuous entry into Outback. His angry outbursts could be heard from far away. He screamed, ranted, and used profanities at a rate that was prodigious, really. He absolutely seethed with hostility towards everyone around him. He presented a façade that was intimidating, even frightening. He laid on the ground, often with his back turned to anyone who tried to speak with him. When he looked at us, his eyes were dark and threatening. He would use his considerable physical size to strike an intimidating stance. He demanded to be returned home immediately. The message he gave was very clear: stay away! Don’t even try to reach me, I’m not interested. I hate you.
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The No-Resistance Approach to Wilderness Therapy
By Meghan Vivo
Troubled teens are often resistant to just about everything, including authority, rules, advice, structure, and therapy, just to name a few. Because of their oppositionality and defiance, treatment programs like boot camps that feed resistance right back to them are frequently ineffective. A better approach is the one taken by Outback, an innovative wilderness therapy program for troubled teens ages 13 to 17, whose core philosophy emphasizes giving adolescents the power of choice and the ability to experience the natural consequences of their decisions.
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Early Interventions Can Save Teens From Chronic Alcoholism to Drug Addiction
Many alcoholics or drug addicts who enter addiction treatment programs do so because they "bottom out." Bottoming out means their lives have spun so out of control that they finally admit to themselves that they have a problem. Often there is a triggering event such as an automobile accident, an arrest or incarceration, being fired from a job, flunking out of college, or even losing the support of a spouse or lover. Such an event either triggers court-ordered addiction treatment or makes the addict finally decide to enter a treatment program on his or her own.
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Is Your Teen A Troubled Teen?
"I thought I knew my daughter. I said, 'She's really not as bad as those other kids.' What I didn't know then was that the difference between my teen and those teens was that mine knew how not to get caught."
-A Parent talking about her troubled teen
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