1. Accessing treatment for co-occurring disorders can be challenging for a variety of reasons. What barriers to treatment might you find specifically for: A. Adolescents
During the adolescent stage, adolescents are not fully matured and developed. They may feel a certain way about having a mental illness and substance use problem. They may not fully cooperate with the clinician and may be resistant towards treatment. Adolescents may not feel like they are “normal” compared to their peers. Due to their illnesses, they may feel like they are different or abnormal. During the adolescent age, teens are still figuring out their identity and their roles in society. Dealing with an identity crisis, mental disorder, and a substance use disorder may be hard to handle at once. This causes a barrier for clinicians in providing the necessary treatment. Often times teens do not feel understood. Therefore if teens feel like they are not being understood or supported they may direct anger to their clinician. Another barrier to treatment when trying to treat adolescents is that they may not want the help that is being provided. The most
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Time may be a be a big barrier to treatment. Many adults may continuously cancel their appointments with their clinicians which affect their treatment process. Middle-aged adults may also have jobs that take up most of their time. On top of that, they have to go home to take care of their family, which leaves no room for attending treatment. Part of having a successful treatment is to attend therapy, whether it be individual therapy, group therapy, or both and taking prescribed medication. A lot of the time people may want their clinicians to prescribe them with medication without attending treatment. Clinicians will not continue to prescribe medication if they are not being seen by a