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Addictions: No One is Invulnerable

It's every parent's nightmare: their teenager becomes addicted to drugs or alcohol. Abuse of and addiction to alcohol and drugs can destroy your child's life, alienate them from the community, or result in criminal activity. In a tragic number of cases, drug and alcohol abuse ends with teenage death or suicide.

A frank, open discussion about drugs and alcohol with your teen is one of the best prevention programs. If you did experiment with alcohol or drugs in your teen years, you may want to consider being up-front about it. Don't wax reminiscent about your teen experiences: Your teen will quickly pick up on if you fondly recall the first time you got drunk. Instead, make it clear you made a mistake if you used drugs or alcohol as a teen.

Addictions are generally associated with drugs and alcohol, but people can be addicted to many different substances and activities. While the physical and mental risks of abusing drugs and alcohol are evident, addictions to sex or gambling can ruin lives.

Gambling addictions cost North Americans millions of dollars every year, as addicts bankrupt themselves searching for the excitement high of betting. Like any other addicts, gambling addicts may be tempted into criminal behavior to get their next "fix." Theft, credit card fraud, and embezzlement are all associated with gambling addictions.

Women are often driven into drug, alcohol, or gambling abuse by depression, loneliness, past emotional or physical trauma, or low self-esteem. Women who develop an addiction to gambling are often termed "escape gamblers." They turn to gambling as a means of avoidance, and seek out the altered state that a winning high can provide. These women are also two to three times more likely to begin abusing substances, and may abuse gambling and/or drugs and alcohol interchangeably.

A sex addiction occurs when sex, or an aspect of sex, becomes an obsession. Sex addicts may engage in extramarital affairs, hire prostitutes, or lead secret sexual "cyber-lives." People close to the sex addict usually have no idea of his sex addiction and obsession.