My 17 Year Old Daughter Wants Help - Been Taking Pills, Smoking Pot and Drinking

Updated on August 02, 2017
S.S. asks from Fishkill, NY
5 answers

My daughter will be 18 in 2 weeks. I have noticed that she lost her old friends one by one this past year and she was caught smoking pot last year as well. She stopped hanging out with this bad crowd and was seeing a nice guy BUT they broke up over a week ago.

This past weekend she did not come home, she left the house on Saturday at 6pm and didn't show up till Sunday 12 in ;the afternoon. She shut her phone and didn't bother calling us to let us know what she was planning on doing. This is the first time she ever stayed out all night till the next day ..my husband and I were frantic looking for her, calling her friends, but they didn't know where she was. Finally when I told her other friend that I was calling the Police, he suddenly remembered where she could be. In 5 minutes we were in contact with her and she was suddenly home. However, she was high and drunk (I didn't recognize my own daughter) and what worries me the most is that she shows no remorse. She told me she feels no emotions. To make things worst I found out her boyfriend broke up with her because she took pills the week before and he is totally against that and she doesn't seem to care, she was in love with him 2 weeks ago and now Nothing...

However, she told me and my husband that she wants help, she even got on the computer and looked up rehab places and spook to the counselors. The counselors told me that usually its the parents calling for help and the kids are in the background screaming that they do not need any help. She is seeing a therapist who specializes in drugs and alcohol, and she said that there are many levels of addiction. My daughter reached her's and knows that if she continues it will get only worst. We are working with a rehab place now and she will probably be there soon. We both found one that seems to fit my daughter (there is an underlying reason why she needs to take these pills to feel better) and needs therapy. I know my daughter went through a large loss when her grandmother died 3 years ago and actually that was one of the last few times I heard my daughter cry. She was deeply grieved I got her some help but she said she didnt need it anymore. This was probably the start of her smoking pot.

What can I do next?

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So What Happened?

Since my daughter is wanting help we have found (With the help of our current therapist) a treatment center for my daughter, that has personalized treatment plans based on the 12-step program and has a holistic approach that also heals the mind, body and spirit, —as well as the family, it includes small group meetings, and has gender and age-specific groups and is located away from our area. I have been on the phone with the counselors pretty much every day and am currently making plans and making plane reservations.

My head is telling me this is the right thing to do.. she needs this...

But my heart is hurting, it takes a lot to let go of your child and give them to someone who you really dont know..

But on the flip side my daughter was out all night and I had no idea where she was or who she was with or what she was taking..

So I am know thinking of this differently ..She will be an environment of people helping her with therapy and also the counselors are telling me stories when they were teens and wishing they got help at 18 instead of their 20's or 30's . If things were different I would be probably packing up my daughter to attend college and I probably will be going through the same anxieties...but why do I still feel terrible, I feel im giving her up, but I cant help her, she needs more than I can do... Just happy she is still agreeable to going and that this is 1/2 the battle...

This is tough...

More Answers

D.B.

answers from Boston on

I checked your prior posts, and I see a big swing in your viewpoints, from wondering if you should intervene in her personal relationships (as if she were a child) to having her Google her own rehab programs (as if she were an independent adult).

I'd stay away from trying to diagnose her by deciding how much to weight her reaction to the loss of her grandmother to deciding the specifics of her underlying reason to take pills to feel better. Yet after that, you let her decide to stop therapy. That's not a child's job - that is a decision made by the parents and the therapist together, although certainly the child can be included in the discussions.

Your daughter should get into a serious therapeutic environment. That's not something she should be Googling herself. That is something that should be made in discussion with her doctor and her therapist (yes, even the one she stopped seeing). You MUST take charge here and not have her making these decisions when she is into drugs and psychological pain. Talk to her doctor TOMORROW and find a program that matches her SYMPTOMS (not your diagnosis of what she needs or what caused it), and find out what's good and what's covered by her insurance. You can tell the doctor that she had conversations with the counselors at a specific program, but get an appointment and go in and talk to the doctor immediately. Get her into a program as soon as possible - probably residential would make sense, but that's up to the professionals as well as what the availability is.

Stop trying to treat this yourself or understand her relationships or whatever. She's not able to control herself and you have to step in now.

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D..

answers from Miami on

Ditto Diane B's answer to your post. I do wonder what your question is, though...

1 mom found this helpful

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

What is your question?

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N.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

From just what you've said I suspect there will be a mental health issue. Teens that change like this often have an onset of some...illness that they drink and do drugs to self medicate.

Please be open to this diagnosis. It might be right and it might be wrong, sometimes it takes a time or two to get it right. I'm sorry you are going through this.

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J.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

I just want to wish you the best of luck with all of this. I can only imagine how difficult this would be to watch your daughter in this situation.

I also would caution you to attribute blame for this because of her grandmother's death. Perhaps it's as simple as she likes the feeling of being high. Perhaps she doesn't handle stress well. Who knows but let her tell you.
I once had a friend tell me her brother's accident (drunk driving) was caused because his girlfriend broke up with him the previous month. My response was that my son died and I didn't drink and drive, her son was diagnosed with a life long illness that effects the quality of his life yet we didn't behave that way. We all must take responsibility for our actions.

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