Alcohol use in teenagers and young adults continues to rise. Young people are starting to drink at an earlier age and are drinking more than
Alcohol is the most readily available drug to society, and as such has long been used and abused. If it were to be invented today the likelihood is that it would be banned and criminalized. According to Professor David Nutt, an English neuropsychopharmacologist specializing in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, ‘alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack when the overall dangers to the individual and society are considered’.
Dependency on alcohol can sneak up on you without ever having realised there was a problem. A habit that is hard to break, it becomes all-consuming.
A few harmless drinks or a few too many?
Rewarding yourself with a few drinks at the end of a hard day has become somewhat of a norm. Whether in a social situation or even once home alone, the draw to have a drink or few in order to relax and unwind can quickly become a habit that creates a false sense of security and an ultimate escape from reality.
Families usually constitute young people’s closest relationships and support systems. That’s why family therapy is so important in the treatment of anorexia nervosa. Working with young people and their families, family therapy sessions support families in overcoming unhelpful behaviours that may reinforce eating disorder symptoms, replacing them with positive systems of relationships that nurture lasting change.
Families are not to blame for the development of eating disorders. However, eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that can strain the relationships within any family. It’s common for families affected by eating disorders to face challenges relating to one another and caring for a young person with an eating disorder.
Some people think that anorexia nervosa is just about food, body shape, or weight. But the reality is much more complicated. Anorexia is caused and
