Virgil Miller Newton

Virgil Miller Newton III (born 1938), also known as Father Cassian, is an Antiochian Orthodox priest best known for his rehabilitative youth centers.

Biographical Quotes

• Adolescence in my growing up period was truly “Happy Days,” the title of a TV show connotating the quality of this life period.
  • Miller Newton (1995). Adolescence: Guiding Youth Through the Perilous Ordeal. W.W. Norton and Company, NY, NY, pg 6.

• Our own unresolved authority problems from our youth sometimes get transferred to our youthful patients, because we are still "covert adolescent rebels." In subtle ways, we encourage the adolescent patient to rebel towards parents, school authorities, and society in general.
  • Miller Newton (1995). Adolescence: Guiding Youth Through the Perilous Ordeal. W.W. Norton and Company, NY, NY, pg 67.

On Teenage Drug Use

• Careful listening to current country and western and rock music with the help of an interpreter for coded phrases shows that young people are hearing a constant stream of messages about getting high, feeling good, going on trips, and using drugs of all kinds with all methods.
  • Miller Newton (1983). The Teenage Drug Epidemic, El Paso Physician, vol 6, pp. 5-6.

• A certain group of adolescents evidence clear “druggie” behavior and attributes some time before they actually begin drug use.
  • Miller Newton (1981). Gone Way Down: Teenage Drug-Use is a Disease, American Studies Press, Tampa, FL, pg 38.

• Finally, law enforcement needs to increase the consequences for kids found intoxicated or in possession of drugs. The current slap on the wrist leaves kids with the idea "Cops are cool. When they take our drugs they are going to use them to get high. They are really helping us avoid the silly law.
  • Miller Newton (1983). The Teenage Drug Epidemic, El Paso Physician, vol 6, pp. 5-6.

• Our teenage “druggies” are habituated to drugs rather than addicted. While beer and other alcoholic beverages are preferred drugs, kids have simply not used alcohol long enough to become addicted. The other drug of preference – marijuana – is not addictive.
  • Miller Newton (1981). ‘’Gone Way Down: Teenage Drug-Use is a Disease,’’ American Studies Press, Tampa, FL, pg 30.

• Drug-use is a terminal disease.
  • Miller Newton (1981). Gone Way Down: Teenage Drug-Use is a Disease, American Studies Press, Tampa, FL, pg 62.

• Four out of five teenagers I talked with did not get “high” until the fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh time that they tried alcohol and/pr pot.
  • Miller Newton (1981). Gone Way Down: Teenage Drug-Use is a Disease, American Studies Press, Tampa, FL, pg 37.

Recruiting Siblings into Treatment

• If a child has an older sibling involved in an addiction, there is a 90 percent chance that he or she will get involved too.
  • Miller Newton in: Denise Lang (1992). How to Stop Your Relatives from Driving You Crazy: Strategies for coping with 'Challenging' Relatives. Fireside, NY, NY, pg 181.

• If his/her siblings and parents are not treated and he/she is strong enough to continue the recovery, a sibling will take up the “druggie” role.
  • Miller Newton (1981). Gone Way Down: Teenage Drug-Use is a Disease, American Studies Press, Tampa, FL, pg 66.

Treatment Approach

• Second, I use inference from technical studies and theories in order to provide practical information for therapists. Those thoughts are several steps removed from scientific validity.
  • Miller Newton (1995). Adolescence: Guiding Youth Through the Perilous Ordeal. W.W. Norton and Company, NY, NY, pg 7.

• These differences involve a tendency for more males to be at one end of the continuum on a specific cognitive ability, while the majority of females tend to be toward the other end of the continuum on the same ability, with some overlap between the two groups.
  • Miller Newton (1995). Adolescence: Guiding Youth Through the Perilous Ordeal.W.W. Norton and Company, NY, NY, pg 43.

• As the therapeutic relationship is established and progress occurs in problem areas, the therapist can "lead" and "push" the adolescent toward abstract reasoning skill.
  • Miller Newton (1995). Adolescence: Guiding Youth Through the Perilous Ordeal. W.W. Norton and Company, NY, NY, pg 62.

Religious Beliefs

• Second, the only proven technique for treatment for chemically dependent people involves use of a spiritual program of self-change.
  • Miller Newton (1983). The Teenage Drug Epidemic, El Paso Physician, vol 6, pp. 5-6.

• It was evident that the treatment program’s building was a place where miracles happen.
  • Miller Newton in: Beth Polson and Miller Newton (1984). Not my Kid: A Parent's Guide to Kids and Drugs. Avon, NY, NY, pg 3.