Drug & Alcohol Epidemic in Teens & Young Adults.

The US Drug & Alcohol Epidemic Starts With Our Youth: The drug and alcohol epidemic in teens & young adults in the United States has reached an all-time high, with more people using prescription opioids than tobacco and more people with substance abuse disorders than people with cancer. In 2016 the Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a landmark report asking Americans to face up to our addiction epidemic and to the misuse and abuse of chemical substances. His report showed that substance abuse disorders cost the U.S. more than $420 billion a year. Dr. Vivek called for a cultural shift in the way Americans talk about the issue, and recommended the actions we can all take collectively to prevent and treat addiction and promote recovery. The surgeon general also shed some light on a common solution for these problems, and it starts with our youth: our teens and young adults. “Preventing or even simply delaying young people from trying substances is important to reducing the likelihood of a use disorder later in life.” He placed an emphasis on the importance of preventing and addressing substance use early on in adolescence, because teens who use alcohol before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder later in life, compared to those who drink at age 21 or older.

The Drug and Alcohol Epidemic In the US: Did you know that an estimated 20.8 million people in our country are living with a substance use disorder? This is a staggering number: it’s 1.5 times the number of people who have all cancers…combined. It is a calculation that does not include the millions of people who are currently misusing substances but may not yet have a “full-fledged disorder.” Even though the reasons for the high prevalence of prescription drug misuse and addictions vary due to many factors, one of the major factors is ease of access. In fact, the number of prescriptions for some medications has increased dramatically since the early 1990s and sadly the misinformation about the addictive properties of prescription opioids and the perception that prescription drugs are “less harmful than illicit drugs” are likely contributors to the problem.

It Doesn’t Stop at Prescriptions: The biggest crime is the access our youth (teens and young adults), have had to medications. Studies show that teens and young adults who misuse prescription medications are more likely to report use of other drugs. There are direct associations between prescription drug misuse and higher rates of cigarette smoking, heavy and episodic drinking, and the use of marijuana, cocaine, heroine and other illicit drug use among young people under the age of 21. One of The National Institute of Drug and Alcohol (NIDA)’s surveys of substance use and attitudes in our youth found that high number on teenage students reported nonmedical use of the prescription stimulant Adderall and the opioid pain reliever Vicodin. It seems that after alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco, prescription drugs (taken non-medically) are among the most commonly used drugs by teens. When asked how they obtained prescription stimulants for nonmedical use, more than half of the teens and young adults surveyed said they either bought or received the drugs from a friend or relative. For far too long, people have thought about addiction and substance abuse disorders as a disease of choice, a moral character flaw or failing. It’s time to blow the lid on these stultified perceptions because we now fully understand that these disorders actually change the circuitry in our brains. They affect our ability to make decisions, change our reward system and alter our stress response. That tells us that addiction is a chronic disease of the brain, and that we need to treat it with the same urgency we do any other illness. In the past we may have underestimated how exposure to addictive substances can lead to full blown addiction but this is no longer the case.

Why Teens and Young Adults Are More Prone To Addiction: Many teens turn to alcohol, marijuana or other substances as a means of coping with stress, relating to their peers, and rebelling against authority. Drinking or smoking are common starting places because to young people it may seem both cool and also excitingly risky because it’s forbidden. Unfortunately, as the Surgeon General report states, those people who begin drinking before age 15 are 4 times more likely to develop an alcohol addiction than those who wait until they are over 20. Teens who start using drugs at such an early age are more likely to have substance abuse problems and addictions later in life. One of the main reasons teens and young adults are more susceptible to addiction is their brains are still developing and will be growing and changing well into their mid-twenties. While in some ways the teenage brain is as smart as that of an adult over age 25, the ability to fully conceptualize long-term consequences, which happens with significant late growth in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, is still a work in progress.

What We Can Do To Curb The Addiction Epidemic: The addiction epidemic is real. The upshot is the US has a critical opportunity to accelerate significant and lasting change in the way substance use disorders and addictions are perceived and managed. The important call to action is for the government and elected officials in the current administration to do the following:

1. Identify and implement effective prevention and treatment programs

2. Improve prevention treatment programs

3. Integrate treatment for addiction into mainstream medical care

4. Increase access to treatment through enforcement of the parity law

5. Conduct more research which will allow us to build a public health approach to substance use disorders

There are prevention strategies, and for teens and young adults already enmeshed in addiction treatment strategies, that can address substance use disorders. Some programs are school-based, college-campus-based, or community-based, some are online and some are in person. Many programs teach our youth how to manage stress in a healthy way, because stress is one of the main reasons kids turn to substances like alcohol, illicit drugs and prescription painkillers. The key is to implement many of these evidence-based interventions.

Get Help: Solutions For Teen and Young Adult Addiction: While I’m calling attention to some pretty stark statistics here, I also want to recognize there are reasons to be hopeful. All across the US we have examples of communities stepping up and implementing prevention programs and treatment programs. And the good news: those programs are changing the lives of young people. We’ve been dealing with substance disorders for centuries. The only difference now is that we have solutions that work. Teens and young adults who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction or dependence do not have to suffer alone. There are several treatment options available, many of which are designed exclusively for teens and the unique challenges they face. If you suspect you or a loved one is becoming dependent on any drugs, or alcohol, the sooner one stars treatment the more likely it is to succeed. If you would like more information on treatment options and support groups please contact us: Call 888-535-2133

Why Are Young Adults So Darn Confused?

How society has made life difficult for young people

Six-year-olds are children. Fourteen-year-olds are teenagers. Forty-year-olds are adults. There would likely be little disagreement about any of these claims.

But what about 18, 19, 20, or 21 year olds? Or 25-year-olds, for that matter? What are they?

People in their late teens and twenties – those who are no longer minors but who have not yet taken on full adult responsibilities – have become a unique age group. Many risky behaviors, such as heavy alcohol use, use of illegal drugs, sex with acquaintances or relative strangers, and drunk driving peak during the 18-25 year-old age group. Many people in this age group keep switching college majors, moving into and out of their families’ homes, changing jobs, and moving in and out of relationships.

What is it with these people? Why do they take so many foolish risks, and why won’t they just grow up?

My colleague Jeff Arnett has devoted much of his career to helping us understand this age group. He started by asking young people between 18 and 25 whether they thought of themselves as adults. A few said yes, and a few said no, but most of them said “in some ways yes, and in some ways no.” This was not a casual or blow-off answer. Our society really doesn’t have much of a formal place for people who have finished their secondary schooling but who have not yet settled down into “permanent” adult roles. Indeed, the way our society is configured actually prevents many people in the 18-25 age group from settling down.

For much of the 20th Century, there was a fairly standard path from formal schooling into adulthood. Many young people got married shortly after finishing high school, many men took entry-level jobs, and many women became stay-at-home mothers and homemakers. The jobs that young people took after finishing high school were often apprenticeship-type positions or positions working in the mailroom, in a steel mill, on an assembly line, et cetera. Workers who showed promise and dedication could sometimes move up in the company, and many working people stayed with the same company – or in the same line of work – for most or all of their careers. My grandfather, for example, started out in the mailroom of a costume jewelry business and eventually became the CEO.

Starting in the late 1960s and 1970s, things began to change. Many women grew tired of staying home and raising children while their husbands went to work. The steel mills began to close, and machines began to take the place of assembly line workers. Having watched their parents spend their lives in unhappy – or at least unsatisfying – marriages, many young people in the 1970s decided to wait longer to marry and to become parents, and some of those who found themselves in unhappy or unfulfilling marriages got divorced. The pipeline directly from high school into marriage and the workforce was beginning to break down, and young people began to flock to colleges and universities to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to be competitive for the jobs that were available. Especially beginning in the 1980s, college became a time and place to “try out” adult roles, career choices, and relationship preferences. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of Americans attending college full time increased by 430% between 1959 and 2010 – nearly six times the 72% increase in the overall U.S. population during that time.

Further, many young people were delaying marriage until their mid-twenties, and the social taboo against having sex before marriage began to ease. So the two primary issues that once were generally resolved shortly after high school – career and romantic partnership – were being delayed, and young people were expected to make choices in these areas rather than simply “falling into” a job and a marriage. This evolution from the traditional high-school-to-work transition to a more extended transition based on trying out potential choices was based both on individuals’ desire to change traditional gender roles and on the decreasing availability of entry-level jobs. These changes created the life stage that Arnett calls “emerging adulthood” (roughly ages 18-25).

So the reason why young people engage in such risky behavior and live such transitory lives lies in the combination of changing social norms, shifting economic conditions, and advancing technology. A college degree today is worth about as much as a high school degree was worth 40 or 50 years ago – it is the entry point for many professions, and it would be difficult to get a job in many fields without at least a bachelor’s degree. More and more people are enrolling in master’s degree programs, which means more time in school and an even more delayed entry into the workforce. The increased credentials required for many jobs, coupled with a shrinking job market, also mean that many more people will not be able to successfully compete for high-paying and satisfying jobs. More and more young people are moving back in with their parents (or not moving out in the first place) because they cannot find suitable work. More young people than ever are struggling to find their way. Risky behaviors are a form of identity exploration for some emerging adults who are looking to experiment with possible life paths and relationships, but these behaviors are often a mode of escape for young people who are unable to compete in an increasingly difficult and complex world. 



 At the same time, social norms have moved even further away from anything that my grandparents’ generation would recognize. The majority of births in the United States are now to mothers who are not married. Many couples are living together indefinitely with no plans to marry. Many people view breasts and genitals not as “private” parts (as they once were viewed), but as potential fashion statements. Breast augmentation, Brazilian bikini waxes, and male enhancement treatments are only some of the ways in which people are marketing themselves sexually. The very thought of a “sexual marketplace” is foreign even to my generation. We now have smartphone apps that provide the physical locations of potential hookup sex partners, and people are transmitting pictures of their genitals through social media. Behaviors that were once reserved for the sanctity of a married couple’s bedroom are now marketed and displayed publicly – thereby increasing the pressure on young people to “measure up” to some imaginary and unreachable standard. Our role models today are less likely to include presidents and newscasters, and more likely to include celebrities whose reckless behavior quickly creates new social standards. So not only are many young people blocked from reaching adulthood, but they are bombarded with role models for childish and irresponsible behavior. Lifestyles that would have been considered deviant 50 years ago are now commonplace. Our society has made it so difficult to become a functioning an adult, while at the same time providing plenty of role models for immaturity – so is it any wonder that today’s young people are living lifestyles that many of us from earlier generations think is crazy?

By Seth Schwartz Ph.D.

Speaking with Teens About Reckless Behavior.



Image courtesy of Unsplash

 

It is important to talk to teens about reckless behavior: According to experts, the adolescent brain is not fully developed until a person’s mid-20s. Regardless of gender, teens lack the ability to make informed, impulse-free decisions. Due to this lack of impulse control, teens can make decisions that are not good for them. It is important to address behaviors before they get out of control. Social media is often filled with images of dangerous behaviors including drug use and stunts.
Talking to teens about such sensitive issues can be daunting for many parents. Sometimes, it seems easier to ignore these other influences and hope for the best. Yet, it is important to arm yourself with facts and information that you can share. One conversation may not be enough to keep them from making poor decisions.

Dangerous Stunts Can Lead to Serious Injury: Several websites encourage young people to engage in dangerous behavior. There have been instances involving homemade bombs, setting oneself on fire, and even stunts involving moving vehicles resulting in severe injury.

Experimenting With Drugs or Alcohol Can Lead to Addiction: For many teens, fitting in with their friends can seem like the most important thing in the world. They want to be accepted. They want to be “cool.” When it comes to experimenting with drugs or alcohol, your teen might see this as a way to become part of the “in” crowd. There is no way to predict whether experimenting with drugs or alcohol will be a crazy thing someone did once or something worse. When an individual consumes drugs or alcohol, the substance changes the way the brain works.

Dabbling Can Lead to Dependence: Dopamine is also responsible for our learning process, to some degree. As teens experiment with drugs or alcohols that affect these types of communications within the brain, they learn that using the drugs makes them feel better. This learned behavior leads to repeated exposure to the drugs of abuse. The brain becomes used to having drugs in the system. Tolerance means higher doses of  drugs are required to achieve the same euphoric experiences. As teens ingest more drugs to achieve the “high” they seek, addiction can take hold. When this happens, the drugs of abuse may become necessary to ease the withdrawal symptoms that can cause severe discomfort, pain or illness.

Talking to Your Teens About Sex: According to the Kinsey Institute, one-quarter of teens will have their first sexual experience by the time they are 15 years of age.  According to a 2007 study, two-thirds of all teens who have engaged in sexual activity have done so with more than one partner. More recent information has found that 15 percent of high school students in 2011 indicated they had had sex with four or more partners. There are a couple of important aspects to teen sexual activity that parents might wish to discuss with their children. The first, obviously, is the risk of teenage pregnancy. In 1991, four out of 10 teenage girls who became pregnant were under the age of 18. The good news about is that the most recent data indicates birthrates among teenagers are declining. The birthrate for American teenagers fell 17 percent in just three years, from 2007 to 2010. This does not mean however, that teens are no longer engaging in sexual activity. It could imply that teens are taking greater precautions or have more access to birth control.

Pregnancy is not the only risk involved in irresponsible sexual behavior. There is also a risk of disease ranging from a minor irritation to life-threatening illness. According to the CDC, new cases of HIV in 2009 affected more than 8,000 teens and young adults between the ages of 13 and 24 years.

Teens often possess the notion that nothing bad can happen to them, as if they are immune. It is important to inform teenagers with statistics concerning irresponsible sexual behavior. Keeping open lines of communication with your teen can be beneficial. Therefore, let them know you will be there to help them make informed, responsible decisions.

Where to Find Help for Your Troubled Teen: If you fear for your teen’s safety, now is the time to get the help you need. Parenting is challenging enough. Sometimes, reckless or destructive behaviors require treatment. You don’t have to do it alone. Our staff here at Newport Academy specializes in treating teens who suffer from mental illness and behavioral issues. We have treated kids at high risk. We offer a safe and sober environment and the peace of mind that comes from knowing you have a team of experts on your side.

Courtesy of Newport Academy.