The first signs showing that your child began using drugs
We will give a few facts which will help you to find a possibility of occurrence of drug addiction in your child. In fact, drug addiction evolutes not for a few hours, it takes months for it, and well-timed finding of addiction signs and competent conversation will help you to convince your child not to take a drug or to be more careful in future at least.
What do you pay attention to? First of all, you will pay attention to five main symptoms or signs which unmistakably can be noticed by you:
- Abrupt changes in mood, thereby these changes are not related anyhow to the reality which surrounds your child. The care-free cheerfulness and vitality are quickly replaced without any reason by apathy, indifference, not wishing to do anything;
- Change of rhythm of sleeping: a child may be sleepy, languid, sluggish in the day time and by the evening, on coming home after a walk, he is energetic, has a wish to do something, and cannot fall asleep in time;
- Change of appetite and table manners, the rhythm of taking meal changes: he is able to eat nothing for some days, without suffering from hunger, and all of a sudden, on coming back after a walk, he can fall on food and eat much more than it is possible at even a stronger hunger;
- Absolute apathy and absence of interest to anything that takes a place at home;
- Groundless irritability, intolerance, sometimes tearfulness, very often - aggressiveness.
Those signs which were already mentioned, are quite sufficient in order to start talking with the child about what is happening with him.
The next moment is a very important testing moment, whether your worrying are in vain. While talking to your child, you mention word “drug”, and if you see your child’s alertness, it means that there is something to hide for him, and it is very important to continue talking with him.
Another very important sign which you should pay attention to, is a manner of child’s talk, and not only his emotional responce. Pay attention to the time between the question you ask and the answer the child gives to you. It is so-called delay of intercourse, delay in answer. Pay attention to a very long pause between questions and answers, beyond depending on plenty of words during this pause. On the one hand, this delay shows that the child is submerged into very hard emotional experience he had, and on the other hand, that he is fully absent during the talk with you, and certainly, he is not oriented to give you frankly some information about his feelings or behavior.
If you find out such moments in the child’s behavior, you should go along and only keep your eye on him at this stage.
Other articles:
Chemical addiction. Conception of illness
The first signs showing that your child began using drugs
Is it is possible to cure a drug addict?
Methadone. Is it a replacement therapy?
