Bridgeport Treatment Centers

Bridgeport, Connecticut, is home to approximately 139,529 people. It is found in Fairfield County and it is around 19 miles outside of Stamford and 17 miles outside of New Haven. In the 1990s, many parts of the country saw a significant population boom. However, Bridgeport was not affected and, in fact, its population actually declined by around 2%. Unfortunately, the city also has a significant drug and alcohol abuse problem. This is demonstrated by the fact that it has higher than state average violent and property crime levels. To address this problem, public health officials have conducted a number of studies in order to better understand its extent, and to put proper prevention, intervention, and treatment options in place.

Statistics on Substance Abuse in Bridgeport, CT

One study looked specifically at youth (12 to 17 years old) attitudes towards substance abuse. What they found was that if young people felt that their parents strongly disapproved of drug or alcohol abuse, they would be less likely to use any compared to those whose parents were neutral or approving of it. This was proven by looking at tobacco and cannabis use, where it was shown that:

• 6.5% of young people whose parents strongly disapproved of substance abuse smoked at least one pack of cigarettes per day.
• 40.5% of young people whose parents were neutral on the subject smoked at least one pack of cigarettes per day.
• 4.8% of the youth whose parents strongly disapproved of substance abuse, smoked cannabis.
• 31.3% of the youth whose parents were neutral smoked cannabis.

These statistics have lead to public officials putting educational efforts in place to ensure that parents know the importance of their role in terms of stopping their children from abusing substances.

Bridgeport also looked at mental health problems in the city. They found that:

• 10.9% of all people over 18 years old had experienced a serious psychological distress (SPD) last year.
• Only 44.6% of those who have SPD received treatment.

What particularly worried city officials was that the rates among young adults (18 to 25 years old) who sought treatment for an SPD were incredibly low. Specifically, by age:

• 29.4% of 18 to 25 year old adults sought treatment if they had an SPD.
• 47.2% of 26 to 49 year old adults sought treatment if they had an SPD.
• 53.8% of those over the age of 50 with an SPD sought treatment.

Addiction is classed as an SPD, and Bridgeport authorities are keen to let people know that a plethora of detox and rehab facilities exist to help people who suffer form this. Looking at the types of treatment that these people look for, it was found that:

• 6.9% of people received the three different types of rehab treatments, which are residential, outpatient, and medically assisted treatment (MAT), including detox.
• 43.3% of people receive outpatient and MAT.
• 34.7% of people only received MAT.

A final area of significant concern in Bridgeport is the level of non-medical use of prescription medication. It has been found that the average age at which someone first abuses OxyContin was 21.8. On a positive note, there was a decline in the number of people initiated to prescription medication abuse.