“Everything we do, every thought we’ve ever had, is produced by the human brain. But exactly how it operates remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries, and it seems the more we probe its secrets, the more surprises we find.” Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist, said this and the statement could not be more true. According to NIMH, 23% of Americans are diagnosed with a mental illness a year. That is equivalent to 57.7 million United States citizens. What could cause those millions of people to be diagnosed with a mental disorder? There is a variety of factors that can lead to a mental illness, such as, a person’s genetic makeup or a dramatic event a person goes through in their life. However, a huge percent of the Americans that were diagnosed with a mental illness have admitted to substance abuse during adolescence. Substance abuse weakens the teenage brain and allows the brain to become open to mental illnesses. There is a variety of drugs in arms reach of teenagers that could potentially cause harm to their brain in adulthood. Several studies have shown that there is a link between drug abuse and mental illness.
Adolescence is a time of change. A teenagers’ bodies are constantly developing and changing and so are their brains. The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that assess situations and helps make good decisions is still developing during adolescence (Comorbidity). This could be why substance use begins in a person’s teenage years. Many teenagers do not realize how harmful drugs are for them. Because the brain is going through so much change, it is common for a mental illness to develop in adolescence. Most teens with mental illness symptoms self medicate themselves by using drugs, however, this worsens t...
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... question. The rest said their drug abuse came first.
When cigarettes were first linked to lung cancer, the link was controversial, much like the link between drug use and mental illness. If drug use does not lead to mental illness, then it makes the symptoms of a person with a mental illness more prominent. The mind is still developing throughout adolescence, and some might argue that the brain never fully develops. So, using a substance is never safe.
Works Cited
Comorbidity:Addiction and Other Mental Illness. National Institute of Drug Abuse. NP.
September 2010. Web. 26/3/2014.
Effects of Drugs Abuse on the Brain. NIH. NP. March 2014. Web. 2/4/2014.
Grosshandler, Janet. Drugs and Driving. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, 1998.
Print. 26/3/2014
Understanding the Mental Health Effects of Street Drugs. NP. 2013. Web. 2/4/2014
Co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders are quite prevalent in today’s society. Treatment and prevention of co-occurring disorders are both critical topics. However, professionals across the board cannot seem to agree on what is the best way to approach these topics. Perhaps the most ‘at-risk’ demographic for substance use are adolescents, ages 12 – 17. (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2011) Thankfully, more and more research has been conducted in the areas of adolescents and co-occurring disorders over the past few decades. However, since treating and preventing co-occurring disorders in adolescents is so monumental for their proper development and for their future as adults, the research must continue.
"Cocaine delivers an intensity of pleasure - and despair - beyond the bounds of normal human experience."
As Paul Thompson states in his article Startling Finds on Teenage Brains from the Sacramento Bee, published on May 25, 2001, “.These frontal lobes,which inhibit our violent passions, rash action and regulate our emotions, are vastly immature throughout the teenage years.” He also says that “The loss[of brain tissue] was like a wildfire, and you see it in every teenager.”. This loss of brain tissue plays a role in the erratic behavior of teens, who cannot properly assess their emotions and thoughts. During this period of brain tissue loss, teens are unpredictable, adults do not know what their teen’s next move will be, teens themselves do not even know what their next move will be. As we grow our brains develop, therefore teen brains are not fully developed, so they cannot be held to the same standards as adults.
There are many contributing factors and political issues that address substance abuse. Throughout the years, many researchers have designed many interventions and social policies designed to treat people who have used, abused, and became addicted to substances. Today, there are many new studies that address substance abuse at the individual, group, family, and community or policy levels. Today, there are many services that are effective for decreasing recidivism in youth who have completed a substance abuse program. A substance abuse treatment program or center is the best way to treat individuals who have abused substances.
Young people are using mood-changing substances at an increasingly younger age. Persistent substance abuse among youth is often accompanied by a plethora of problems, including school related hardships, health-related problems, poor family relationships, mental health issues, and run-ins with the justice system. There are also significant consequences involving the community, and society in general. Studies show drug use at a young age increases the desire to abuse as you get older. Society looks at drugs as being a taboo, which is the norm for our country. However other countries see drug use as a way of connection with oneself and others in another realm. Now whether drug use is harmless or harmful is a matter of your personal preference.
In the nonfiction article “The Teen Brain: Still under construction” by NIMH, the author believes the teen brain is still developing emotionally, intellectually, and hormonally.
Although physical health is not directly effected by the status of a child’s mental state, children with mental health problems are more prone to having a chronic health condition, which will follow them into adulthood. Out of all the children with a mental illness forty percent of them have two or more mental illnesses. A child with a mental illness has a greater chance of developing even more mental illnesses as an adult. An adult with one or more mental disorders are less likely to work or participate in the community in a positive light (cdc.gov). The abundant number of children who had trouble in school, getting along with their peers, and shying away from their family because of a mental illness are not likely to be attending further schooling or working in their adulthood. Since these adults do very little there a greater chance that they turn to substance abuse (NHPF.ORG). According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the population of people with mental illnesses consumes thirty-eight percent of alcohol and forty-four percent of cocaine (dual diagnosis).
Runaway’s teens often encounter problems with drugs such having an addiction. An addiction is a chronic brain disease that causes a person to find drugs in unwanted places, despite how harmful they are to them (Addiction p.4).Taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, research shows that in earlier stages a person using drugs is more likely to be more seriously
The emotional health and wellbeing for our children should be the greatest importance to a parent. Four million children and adolescents in the United States live with serious mental disorders (Hamburg, 2006). Some conditions include depression, anxiety disorders, which are the most frequent that may later on lead to drug abuse. Some develop eating disorders that include bulimia and anorexia, others develop attention deficits, become hyperactive or antisocial behavioral responses that may limit the ability to think and learn and form social attachments or communicate with others. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health disorders are one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Three of the ten leading causes of disability in people between the ages of 15 and 44 are mental disorders and the other cases are often associated with mental disorders and research has shown that most mental disorders begin in childhood and in adolescence (2009). Poor mental health can have an effect on wider health and development of adolescents in associations with social outcomes such as higher alcohol, tobacco and illicit substances, pregnancy, school dropout and even the act of wrong behaviors of a child.
Adolescent mental health for at risk youth is important to the wellbeing of an adolescent who is growing and developing. Most adolescents who can incur mental health issues can be based on several factors such as: poverty, poor relationships, lack of health care, and inheritance. An adolescent is defined as: a young person who is developing into an adult (Merriam-Webster, 2017). The adolescent stage of development is a complex stage of a person’s life and can be viewed as the most difficult stage. At risk adolescents are likely to have a higher risk for mental health issues.
During adolescence emotional reactivity is heightened, and the social environment is changing as adolescents spend more time with their peers than adults (Casey, 2008). To an adolescent, the value of positive information, as well as negative information may be exaggerated which leads to greater emotional reactivity and sensitivity during this growth period (Casey, 2008). This can heighten the incidence of addiction and the onset of psychological disorders (Casey, 2008). There are various theories that attempt to explain why adolescents engage in risky behaviour. One of these theories by Yurgelun-Todd stems from human adolescent brain development, and proposes that cognitive development during the adolescent period is associated with increasingly superior efficiency of cognitive control and affective modulation (Casey, 2008). This theory also suggest...
The period of adolescence is a time of immense changes, both biologically and socially, through self-discovery and identification. During adolescence, the human body goes through a wave of hormonal changes in preparation for sexual reproduction. As the individual reaches adulthood, this process is called puberty (Arnett, 2015, p. 350). In addition to the physical changes, teens undergo many social and psychological changes as they approach adulthood, preparing them for the many responsibilities to come (Arnett, 2015, p. 350). Adolescence is constructed by changes in relation to the physical, cognitive, and emotional states of an individual. Within each of these developmental areas, teens mature in varying ways. In regards to physical changes, adolescents undergo the previously mentioned process of puberty, but they also face many issues such as eating disorders and substance abuse (Arnett, 2015, p. 357-359). For cognitive development, teens undergo
Cigarettes not only contain harmful substances, but they also can cause erectile damage. dysfunction in men and illnesses such as cancer and lung disease (http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3009767). Cigarettes are full of substances that are harmful not only to the smoker, but also to those around him or her. Smoking not only harms the smoker, but also those around them. For years it had been thought that smoking only affected smokers and non-smokers were not at risk at all, but after years of research it.
Adolescences in particular can be easily influenced to abusing a drug or multiple drugs. I believe this happens because teens often lack education, live in an environment where drugs are readily available, are peer-pressured and the lack of proper growth of the frontal lobe. Many factors contribute to adolescences experimenting with drugs. As side from being a child, the adolescence stage is of great importance. Healthy habits and activities are supposed to be instilled within this stage of life. The adolescence stage can be very perplexing and what is made into a habit then is easily carried on into adulthood. Our genes act together with our environment to contribute to the addictive behaviors we are motivated to develop. If addiction is left untreated it can ultimately lead to de...
It has been discovered that most people who struggle with drug addiction began experimenting with drugs in their teens. Teenage drug abuse is one of the largest problems in society today and the problem grows and larger every year. Drugs are a pervasive force in our culture today. To expect kids not to be influenced by the culture of their time is as unrealistic as believing in the tooth fairy (Bauman 140). Teens may feel pressured by their friends to try drugs, they may have easy access to drugs, they may use drugs to rebel against their family or society, or they may take an illegal drug because they are curious about it or the pleasure that it gives them.