Addiction and Adolescence – Stopping It Where It Often Starts
Addiction and Adolescence – as you read in my last post, “Addiction is a Developmental Disease – People Are Not Born Addicts/Alcoholics,” addiction often begins in adolescence.
Addiction and adolescence – preventing it where it often starts is critical.
Not only that, but a person has to abuse a substance (drugs or alcohol) in order to set up the chemical and structural brain changes that lead to addiction. People are not born drug addicts or alcoholics. Part of prevention, therefore, should include answers to questions, such as: “Why?” “What is it about the brain that makes addiction happen in adolescence?” “Why is addiction considered a brain disease?” “Why does waiting to drink alcohol until after age 21 help?”
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has a great website for teens, NIDA for Teens: Facts on Drugs. This site is an excellent resource for parents, teachers and adults who work with and/or are raising teens. Here are a few links you’ll find there:
Lisa Frederiksen
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