Clearing the Haze: Helping Families Face Teen Addiction

Often it is difficult for parents to recognize when their child is abusing alcohol, using illegal drugs, or in trouble with other substances that are hazardous to their health, safety, and wellbeing. Clearing the Haze is a guide designed to help parents determine whether their child may have a substance problem and, if so, how to begin to address it. The book includes the voices and insight of experts in substance abuse counseling, young people in recovery, and parents who have lived the nightmare of adolescent addiction. The book moves readers through an overview of adolescent brain development, the warning signs of drug use and addiction, treatment options, what families should expect of therapy, the basics of productive communication, and the difficulties of dealing lovingly with addicted teens. The authors encourage families entering the 12th step of ＂giving back＂ to consider advocacy for smarter public policies surrounding drug access and addiction treatment. They also provide a list of resources parents may find useful. A necessary resource for every community, this book will help parents, teachers, friends, and others help kids who need help.

Christian Thurstone, MD, is board certified in general, child and adolescent, and addiction psychiatry. He is medical director of a busy adolescent substance treatment program and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado, Denver, where he researches adolescent addiction and also serves as training director for the addiction psychiatry fellowship program. Dr. Thurstone also currently serves as a physician for the National Football League and is a past president of the Colorado Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Society. In 2012 he was awarded the White House Advocate in Action award for his efforts to reduce drug use and its consequences. That same year, the United States Congress awarded him another title: U.S. Army Major. He is honored to treat American service members needing mental health care as an Army Reserves officer. Visit his website at www.drthurstone.com. Christine Tatum is an award-winning journalist whose market research firm, Media Salad, Inc., provides business information services that help companies and nonprofit organizations stay ahead of their competitors. Her professional stops include the Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post, the (Arlington Heights, IL) Daily Herald, and the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record. She continues to freelance, and her work also has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and The Colorado Springs Gazette. Tatum was elected to serve as 2006-07 national president of the Society of Professional Journalists and has been honored to teach concepts in responsible journalism around the world at the invitation of the U.S. State Department. She frequently collaborates with her husband to produce communications designed to inform the public about substance abuse and addiction.