Trktment for adolescents provides help without intimidation
BY LESLIE KENDRICK
Names have been changed in the following story to
protect the families of the youths involved. All of the peo
ple involved have been verified by the editor to insure ac
curacy. Jane Smith is a pretty blonde 17-year-old from small
town Nebraska.
She is also an alcoholic.
Picked up for minor-in-possession, Jane was given a
counsellor who suggested treatment. She agreed that it
sounded like a good idea.
Before a time was set for treatment, Jane was picked
up for Driving While Intoxicated.
The courts sentenced her to an adolescent treatment
center.
"My mom and dad are pretty ashamed," Jane said
quietly. "They don't want to admit I'm an alcoholic.
"I feel kind of guilty because I'm the only one in the
family with a drinking problem. I feel pretty ashamed."
Luckily, Jane, along with other adolescents, is learn
ing to deal with those feelings and her alcoholism in the
Youth Treatment Center at Lincoln General Hospital.
The treatment center officially opened in April. Mal
colm Heard, coordinator for the center, explained that
there was a need for specialized adolescent care, instead
of the traditional treatment with adult alcoholics. As a
result, he said, a grant was awarded to Lincoln General
by the state for use in starting the center.
There is a need to separate adolescents from adults in
the treatment, said patient activities technician Mark
Harper, because of peer pressure and problems adoles
cents have in dealing with adults.
"If they were treated with the adults, the adults
would tend to dominate the kids in group sessions. Kids
are naturally intimidated by adults.
"In this type of treatment, the adolescents experience
the power structure within their peer group.
"We use the peer pressure that occurs "thew gP
positively to change attitudes and behavior, he
Heard said there are three ways an adotont comes
to the treatment center: through the schools ; the farnUy
or the legal system. If the patient comes through tne
legal system, in many cases it is a . predwpttw treat
ment, Heard explained. Judges send youths to the center
in hopes that it will do more good than other mean ot
punishment. But, if things don't work out at the tern ter.
the adolescent may have to face stiffer penalties, he said.
Treatment at the center consists of psychological ana
alcoholic treatment. The patients have individual and
group counselling. There are recreational programs and a
school program will be started in the fall, through the
Lincoln Public School system. ..
The center primarily treats alcoholism, Heard said,
but there are few adolescents in the center who have not
used other drugs in addition to alcohol.
"There isn't any real stereotype of an adolescent who
winds up at this center," Heard said. "We get kids who
are just starting to use alcohol or drugs to those who are
hard-core chronic alcohoolics."
"The safest thing to say about all of them is that they
all have a bunch of acting-out defenses which cover up a
very sensitive young person."
Alcoholism first starts by seeking peer approval, said
Bob, a patient at the center.
"You get drunk for acceptance," he said. Most of the
patients come in with their defenses up. People hide be
hind a macho image or a quiet front and don't show their
feelings, he said.
"For me, it is hard to confront my feelings, said
Frank, another patient. "I think you get more out of the
group sessions than the individual counselling. In the
group sessions you just tell how you feel and you get
feedback.
"If the others think you're not confronting your prob
lems they iust say 'bull'. Thev want to get you mad so
Council on Alcoholism helps control
growing problem student alcoholics
BY RICK MAAS
John is a freshman at UNL. He never drank in high
school.
But since he came to the university, John is seen
visiting the bars in downtown Lincoln quite often.
John soon begins to experience blackouts; he seems to
have to drink more than he used to in order to get to the
point where he feels good. Soon he doesn't realize how
much it takes to get him drunk.
John is a typical student alcoholic.
This story isn't real, but it's one that occurs with tx
much frequency.
Findings in a recent survey taken at UNL showed that
73.2 percent of students surveyed condisered themselves
to be drinkers. The survey, taken in the spring semester
of 1980, said that 35 percent of students surveyed
thought of themselves as "moderate" drinkers, 3 percent
of thase questioned considered themselves "heavy"
drinkers, and .2 percent said that they were "too heavy"
drinkers.
The survey, which was conducted by UNL housing,
stated that the majority of the students who drank said
they did so because of reasons other than social accept
ance. Marilyn Keller, the director of community awareness
for the Lincoln Council on Alcoholism and Drugs, says
the reasons for someone to want to drink could vary to
include almost anything. She said that some of the prob
lem areas which lead to drinking include: family, legal,
health, or money problems.
Keller said that alcoholism is a disease that can be
diagnosed, treated and finally cured.
Alcoholism has some very definite symptoms: black
outs or memory lapses, an increased tolerance to alcohol,
and a loss of control of alcohol intake. When someone
says that he is stopping for "just one" and it becomes
"why did we stay for closing," it is a sure sign that the
person doesn't realize that he has lost control, she said.
Keller said that anyone who experiences the following
symptoms should consult an alcoholism professional: If
you wake up with feelings of guilt or remorse about the
preceding night's activities or if you get up wondering
what you did the night before, if you experience a
dramatic personality change when you get drunk or if
you never feel comfortable around people unless you are
drinking, if you say that you are only going to have four
drinks and end up having eight, or if you have to drink
before you go out drinking so you can be inconspicuous.
Keller said that the Lincoln Council on Alcoholism
and the Drug Crisis Hot-line have averaged treating
about 60 clients a month since the council opened on Jan.
1, 1981. Anyone with a drug-related problem or knows of
someone with a problem can walk right in and get help,
Keller said.
Keller said that the medical profession is just coming
to grips with the alcoholism problem.
"Its's the 'two-for-one syndrome' a doctor spends
two hours out of four years studying learning about the
number one problem in the United States," she said.
The alcoholic's biggest problem is society, Keller said.
"Ignorance, shame, guilt, denial, just the basic miscon
ception of an alcoholic. Nobody ever says anything if
someone gets cancer or heart disease, but it's different
with alcoholism," she said.
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vour feelings will come out.
"When I came in, I had a lot of anger towards society
and mv familv. Since I've been here, I've gotten in touch
with my feelings a lot more. That makes me feel a lot
bt tter "
The center bases its program on the Alcoholics' Anon
ymous treatment. An important part of that program is
family support. However, not all the patients have that
SU"? haven't seen my mom in a long time," Nancy said.
"Mv brothers say I don't have a problem. I'm more used
to not having familv support, but it s still hard.
Parents often do not want to accept the adolescent's
drinking problem. Dave Blume, patient activities techni
cian, said that the couasellors often use a patient exercise
to show the parents there is a real problem. In the first
step of the program, patients make a timeline of their use
of the drugs and alcohol, from the first time to the
present, he said.
"It gives a painted picture of the history of their use,"
Blume said. The exercise shows parents the actual use of
drugs and alcohol and the frequency of use. The patient
also begins to recognize his or her problem after they
make a timeline, he said.
"A lot of times the kids say 4oh, I know what I did.'
But then thev make a timeline and say, 'Man, I did more
than I ever lielieved I did'," Blume said.
In fiscal year 1978-79, 1,371 adolescents 10 to 19 years
old were admitted to an alcoholic treatment facilities in
Nebraska, Smith said Smith. That figure represents 14
percent of the total population admitted for treatment.
The success rate for the Lincoln center is hard to
judge, Heard said. The center screens its patients and
dismisses those adolescents who are not working out in
the program.
"Our goal here is abstinence. Other treatments try to
teach responsible use, but a young person who is develop
mentally deprived by their alcoholism needs to quit.
Then they can go on and get their life started," Heard
said.
Frank said he hopes he can quit.
"I don't know if I'll go back to drinking," he said.
"Not if I stay in AA. I guess that's one thing I have prob
lems with. I'm scared that when I go back I won't be ac
cepted and start drinking again."
"I think it's doing a lot of good," Nancy said. "There's
a lot of love here. They teach you how to communicate,
how to treat people right, and how to treat yourself
right."
r
4
Summer Nebraskan
The Summer Nebraskan is published
weekly by the University of Nebraska
Lincoln School of Journalism during
eight weeks of the summer sessions.The
Summer Nebraskan office is 112 Avery
Hall, City Campus. Telephone 472-2209.
Editor: Brian McManus
Business Manager: Jennifer Ehrlich
Account Representative: Kay Herbert
Reporter: lxri Merryman
Photographer: Bill Graf
Advisors: Jack Botts and Don Glover
)ean., $ch(xl 0f Journalism:
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