A short, advice-driven YouTube video by Amber Hollingsworth listing the top 10 signs that a teenager (or young adult) has moved from experimentation to a drug or alcohol addiction. The speaker walks parents through observable behaviors (caught using repeatedly, marked irritability, friend-group changes, loss of hobbies, family conflict, mood disorders, grade changes, truancy, stealing/missing items, and peers expressing concern) and emphasizes that signs 9 (stealing/missing money/items) and 10 (friends warning parents) are strong indicators requiring immediate help. The video ends with an offer of a free parental playbook and subscription CTA.
Chapters
It can be really hard to tell the difference between normal teen experimentation with drugs and alcohol versus dealing with a teenager or maybe even a young adult or college student who's developed an addiction problem. So in this video I'm going to tell you the top 10 signs that you're dealing with a problem, not experimentation. And make sure you catch the whole video because the last two are huge, major, major warning signs and you want to know exactly what they are. Let's start with the obvious. Number one, you've caught them multiple times. So you've caught them red handed, like in the act. Like you've caught them smoking weed or you keep finding alcohol in their car or something like that. So you've caught them multiple times. You've had several conversations with them about it. You've done all the normal parenting, like you're in trouble, you're grounded. I know the new word is restrictions. That's fancier. All the stuff you take in the Xboxes and the keys and it just keeps happening. That's a pretty good place to start. You've caught them multiple times and you've put the punishments in place and it's not going away. So sign number two that you're dealing with a problem is that your kid is like extra super duper irritable. I know that teenagers can be moody and difficult, but if your kid, you just say good morning and they want to bite your head off, they're constantly arguing with you. It feels like they're always picking fights with you. A lot of times it's usually with one parent more than the other. Most of the time it's the mom. So if they're constantly picking a fight with you, that's a big sign. Like more than normal teenage stuff, like constantly arguing, like big giant blow ups. Symptom number three, they've changed friend groups. In fact, kids with a drug or alcohol problem often change friend groups a couple of times. So that first change is where they go from their like lifelong childhood friends. You know Billy next door that he went to kindergarten with and now all of a sudden he doesn't really want to hang out with them anymore. Hanging out with the cool kids, kind of more popular. He's got more stuff to do, all that stuff. And then sometimes they'll even switch a second time to an even different friend group. They move from the cool kids to the drug kids. And I'm not talking about, okay, these are the kids that have fun, you know, on the weekends at a party. I'm talking about, these are the kids that that's what they're known for, the stoners, the drug kids, the ones that are in trouble. So you can see there's a clear differentiation of stages going on there. Number four, they stop being involved in their lifelong, like their activities and interests and hobbies. The thing that they've always loved, if they've always loved dance. They literally want to be professional dancer when they grow up, and now they're just not very interested in it anymore. They probably made up reasons why they just kind of want to stop doing that activity or they haven't engaged in it in a while. They don't have interest in the things they used to have interest in. That's a pretty good sign if they've always played baseball, love baseball, want to go to college on a baseball scholarship, but now they don't care. That might be a problem. Now they're going to tell you something that sounds logical, like, well, my coach is a jerk, or this or that, or I'm just burnout. But pay attention if they're not doing any of those things that they used to do that they loved. Big sign. Number five. Oh, this is an important one. You and your spouse are arguing about it all the time. So one of you is going to be the good cop, and one of you is going to be the bad cop. And you just can't get on that same parenting page about, is it a problem, how big of a problem it is, let alone what to do about it. A big thing that we do when we assess the problem is see how much conflict is going on in the family about the situation. Sometimes, even if they're siblings, sometimes they get into the conflict because they're either mad at their brother or sister for what they're doing, or they're mad at you, the parent, because they feel like you're always on their case. And so they sort of align with the kid. That's happening. You got big trouble. Number six, they seem like they're constantly struggling with anger, anxiety, or depression. Most of the time, when kids are using drugs, eventually they'll develop an anxiety disorder. And so they will come to you and complain about anxiety. And probably when you caught them using drugs, they say they need it because it's the only thing that makes their anxiety better. That's a pretty good sign. So they're complaining about anxiety and they're using drugs to fix their anxiety problem. That's a big problem. Number seven is grades. Their grades are changing like they were always a good student, and now their grades are just getting worse. And worse and worse. Know they're gonna have lots of excuses, but you know, your kid, you know, kind of where they usually average out or they stay. If there's a big change in those grades, you might want to look further. Now we'll tell you, you don't always get a big change in grades. Sometimes you actually get a big change in grades for the better for a little while. Depends on what drug they're using. So if they're using stimulants or they're using pain pills, those grades might go up. So when I say change in grades, I mean they could go really up or really down. Number eight, they're missing a lot of school. I mean, if your kid's skipping school, what do you think's going down? Hmm. Probably not something super good. Chances are if they're skipping school, they're into something they shouldn't be. Okay, now these last two, these are the biggies I'm about to tell them to you. And I'm telling you, if you see either one of these signs, you can forget all about the rest of those. Because if you see these last two, you not only do you have a problem, but you probably got a really big problem. So you can quit arguing about it with your spouse and immediately seek some help. Okay, so number nine is you're missing money or items or things in your house. You put your ring down and you know you left it in there, and all of a sudden it's gone. And you Knew you had 20 bucks in your wallet, but it's gone. And there was this mysterious break in last summer when you guys were on summer vacation and somebody took a bunch of stuff. If you're missing or money more than once, you might should look deeper. That's a pretty big sign because it means not only is your kid using drugs, but they're using drugs so much that they're actually stealing to support the habit. Now, that is huge. Not only does it mean a problem, it means it's a pretty progressed problem. Okay, this last one, if this happens to you, I'm telling you, like, don't pass go. Don't collect $200. Like, immediately get some help, because you definitely are in trouble. Okay, number 10 is if another one of their friends reach out to you and they say to you they're worried about your kid because they've been doing a lot of drugs, or they're super scared of what they might do, or they feel like it might be getting out of hand. That is huge, because guess what? In young people land you don't turn on your friend and call their parents unless you're freaking scared to death. And so if another young person is calling you to warn you about what's going on with your kid, then the other young person's scared, and probably the other young person is doing drugs, too. So what that means is your kid is doing so much drugs, it's scaring the other kid that's doing drugs, too. If you see those last two symptoms, you definitely have a problem. Now, if you've been listening to this video and you're kind of freaking out on the inside and you're going, oh, my gosh, like you're describing me, Amber. In fact, we get a lot of phone calls a week like that. They say, oh, my gosh, I watched your videos, and it was like, you're living in my house. If you just had one of those moments and you felt like, I have been spying on your house, then take advantage of this free resource. So I have this playbook that I've written for parents. It's called stop the get your kids life back on track and your family back in order. So just click the link below and it'll give you access to what you need to download that playbook. For tons more information on all things addiction and recovery and lots of free expert advice. Make sure and subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss a thing.
