Start A Conversation: 10 Questions Teens Ask About Drugs and Health National Institute on Drug Abuse NIDA

Conversely, teenagers with mental health issues are more likely to use substances to cope with their problems. All drugs have the potential to produce negative health effects or lead to a dangerous situation in the short or long term. Whether a drug causes a serious health issue—like a life-threatening overdose—can depend on how much a person uses, how they consume it, and other factors.

Children’s health information and parenting tips to your inbox.

Participants also see charts that quantify how much money and time they spend on substances, including recovering from being intoxicated, and how that stacks up against other things they value, such as exercise, family time, and hobbies. On the other hand, traditional prevention advocates may feel that teaching adolescents how to use fentanyl test strips or encouraging them not to use drugs alone undermines the idea that they can choose not to use substances. Experimenting with drugs or alcohol is tempting for teenagers because they may not know or understand the dangers of using substances—even just once. Academic pressure, low self-esteem, and peer pressure are just a few factors that increase their risk of substance use. Find out as much as you can about their drug use—what substances they’re using, how often they’re using them, and how they’re getting them.

Other Strategies

The program components are often managed by a coalition of stakeholders including parents, educators, and community leaders. Research has shown that community-based programs that deliver a coordinated, comprehensive message about prevention can be effective in preventing adolescent substance use. Normative education approaches include content and activities to correct inaccurate perceptions regarding the high prevalence of substance use. Many adolescents overestimate the prevalence of smoking, drinking, and the use of certain drugs, which can make substance use seem to be normative behavior.

Study Setting/Participants

• Know the law.Research your state’s laws around underage drinking and drug use.
• Thus, the reconsolidation approach has the potential to both reduce fear at the time of treatment and lessen the likelihood that it will return.
• Recognizing that you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery, one that takes tremendous courage and strength.
• The sessions focus on substance use issues, personal and family responsibilities, and communication and refusal skills.

Developmentally, adolescents are at the highest risk for drug dependence and severe addiction. In addition, teens often don’t know or understand the dangers of substance abuse. They may see occasional use as being safe and don’t believe they could become addicted to drugs or face consequences. Recent attempts to incorporate reconsolidation-­updating approaches in treating adult patients with anxiety and trauma-related disorders have yielded some success, but to date they have not been used with adolescent patients. The studies in adults show short- and long-term reduction of symptoms, especially for patients with specific phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder.

How can schools help to prevent youth and young adult substance misuse and create supportive learning environments?

To avoid developing problems with a prescription medication, it’s important to take it only as directed, use the lowest dose for the shortest period possible, and to talk to your doctor about other methods of treating the problem. Being aware of any signs of dependency can help identify prescription drug problems at an early stage and help to prevent them progressing into an addiction. With the right treatment and support, you can counteract the disruptive effects of drug use and regain control of your life. The first obstacle is to recognize and admit you have a problem, or listen to loved ones who are often better able to see the negative effects drug use is having on your life. Eventually drug abuse can consume your life, stopping social and intellectual development.

People often try drugs for the first time in social situations with friends and acquaintances. A strong desire to fit in to the group can make it feel like doing the drugs with them is the only option. Relapse doesn’t mean that treatment has failed or that sobriety is a lost cause. Rather, it’s a signal to get back on track, either by going back to treatment or adjusting the treatment approach. Recovery can begin at any point in the addiction process—and the earlier, the better. The longer drug abuse continues, the stronger the addiction becomes and the harder it is to treat.

Engaging Adolescents in the Fight Against Drug Abuse and Addiction: A Concept Mapping Approach

Safety cues may be a valuable tool for increasing the tolerability of the early stages of treatment so that patients do not drop out. Early treatment sessions could include guidance from the clinician on how to identify and properly deploy a safety cue. Like many other chronic conditions, treatment is available for substance use disorders. While no single treatment method is right for everyone, recovery is possible, and help is available for patients with SUDs. Opara remembered her love for Paterson and decided to go back there, focusing her attention on filling the many gaps in that community to prevent substance abuse among young people.

BASICS is delivered in an empathetic, nonconfrontational, and nonjudgmental manner and is aimed at providing personal feedback to the student that reveals discrepancies between a student’s risky drinking behavior and his or her life goals and values. The first of two interviews gathers information about the student’s drinking patterns and history, beliefs about alcohol, and provides instructions for self-monitoring drinking between the two interview sessions. Between interviews, students complete an online assessment survey which is used to develop a customized feedback profile that is reviewed in the second interview. The assessment survey compares an individual’s alcohol use with alcohol use norms, and assesses negative consequences and risk factors for heavy drinking along with perceived risks and benefits of drinking. The assessment results are discussed in the second interview which takes place approximately one or two weeks later. The counselor provides personalized feedback and works with the student to review options in terms of how the student can make changes to decrease or abstain from alcohol use.

• Fortunately, new discoveries about the adolescent brain are showing promising paths forward for the treatment of anxiety.
• If you’re worried about your own or a loved one’s drug use, learning how drug abuse and addiction develops—and why it can have such a powerful hold—will give you a better understanding of how to best deal with the problem and regain control of your life.
• The current variable efficacy of CBT in adolescents with anxiety disorders may be explained by the fact that some clinicians already use procedures that inadvertently tap into components of reconsolidation updating.
• Training reviews the relevant information about alcohol use among college students along with principles of motivational interviewing.
• For example, Bond Edmond and colleagues (2015) found that, relative to urban substance abuse treatment centers, rural centers had reduced access to highly educated counselors and offered fewer wraparound services.
• The students who were selected for the program demonstrated an interest in reducing/eliminating drug abuse or addiction, working in teams or intellectual curiosity.

It is still the case that most schools use non-evidence based prevention programs, family-based prevention programs often do not reach the families in greatest need, and starting up community prevention programs requires substantial resources. It is clear that more research is needed to facilitate teen drug abuse the wide dissemination of effective prevention programs into our schools, families, and communities. In support of the quality of research on LST, the NREPP web site lists seven peer-reviewed outcome papers from four demographically diverse cohorts of students, along with ten replication studies.