New Research by The Caron Foundation Shows That Teenage Drinking, Which has Reached Epidemic Proportions, Leads to Life-Threatening Behavior.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 2002

The Caron Foundation, a nationally recognized authority on adolescent addiction treatment and rehabilitation has released the results of their 2001 admission data.

Over the past few years, admission data has shown that the number of adolescents presenting with alcohol dependency is gradually increasing. Their findings support a survey released today by CASA, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, that teenage drinking has reached epidemic proportions and that percentage-wise, the problem is now equal between male and female teenage drinkers.

The Caron Foundation has been studying the societal repercussions of teenage alcohol abuse. "A major threat with adolescent alcohol abuse is the risky behavior undertaken when inebriated," explained Dr. Susan M. Gordon, Director of Research at the Caron Foundation. "One fourth of all alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities are caused by adolescents." Adolescent drinking, even by teenagers who are not addicted, can have fatal consequences, when the drinker undertakes risky behaviors with potential consequences of serious accidents or death via auto accidents or alcohol poisoning.

Although drinking problems no longer follow a gender gap, Caron's treatment philosophy recognizes that young men and women experience chemical dependency differently from each other and from adults. Caron has designed a continuum of care to treat the adolescent female addict and the adolescent male addict

It is often very difficult for teens coming into treatment to focus on issues that lead to, or contribute to the disease of addiction. Having a gender-focused approach helps patients to narrow the focus on issues such as eating disorders, sexual "acting-out" behaviors, sexual abuse, etc. (which in traditional treatment approaches tend to be ignored or deferred as an aftercare issue.) By contrast, teenage boys face masculinity issues, violence and additional "acting-out" types of behavior. These issues also tend to get hidden in traditional treatment and can be the cause for them to be discharged early and/or referred to a correctional system.

"Recognizing that the needs of teenagers are very different from those of adults is our first priority for treatment at Caron," says David Rosenker, Vice President of Adolescent Services. "At Caron, we focus on the needs and issues facing today's teenagers, while providing a safe environment to foster the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual development of our young patients."

CARON FOUNDATION

The Caron Foundation is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to provide an enlightened and caring treatment community in which all those affected by the disease of addiction may begin a new life. Now in its fifth decade of providing quality services, Caron offers a full spectrum of gender-separate chemical dependency treatment programs to meet the needs of both adolescents and adults. Caron's proven expertise includes early intervention, medical evaluation and detoxification, residential primary, relapse and extended care, outpatient treatment for adults and adolescents, continuing care, family counseling and codependency treatment.

Richard J. Caron, a Reading, Pennsylvania industrialist and recovering alcoholic and his wife Catherine, spent hours in their home talking with people who came to them for help. Dick published a newsletter, which he called Chit Chat, to reach out to others who needed support and an encouraging word. In 1957, after years of opening their home to those needing a guiding hand in recovery, they established a halfway house. Before long, this too proved to be inadequate to accommodate the many individuals who sought their counsel.

In 1959, the Carons purchased a historic resort hotel on South Mountain in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, and opened Chit Chat Farms - a facility that has gained an international reputation for excellence as one of the first and foremost chemical dependency treatment centers in the United States. Today, Caron Foundation, rooted in the "Chit Chat" tradition, stands as a beacon of hope to individuals and families whose lives have become unmanageable because of chemical dependency.