What Teens Are Up AgainstAnd What You Can Do About It Using Brain - - PDF document

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What Teens Are Up AgainstAnd What You Can Do About It Using Brain - - PDF document

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5/18/16 What Teens Are Up AgainstAnd What You Can Do About It Using Brain Science and Parent Knowledge to Explore Teen Substance Use Risks Stephen Bogan, M.A.,LMHC, CDP 206-463-3050 imperfecthealer@netscape.com Goals for tonight

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“What Teens Are Up Against…And What You Can Do About It”

Using Brain Science and Parent Knowledge to Explore Teen Substance Use Risks

Stephen Bogan, M.A.,LMHC, CDP

206-463-3050 imperfecthealer@netscape.com

Goals for tonight…

  • ENGAGE….(I hope!?)
  • EDUCATE…(we’ll all share our

wisdom)

  • EMPOWER…parents to be as

vigilant (or more) about drug use as they are about grades and room cleaning!!!

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How much knowledge and comfort do you have in taking a stand against…

  • Methamphetamines?
  • Cocaine?
  • Opiates
  • Heroin?
  • PCP?
  • Tobacco?
  • Alcohol?
  • Marijuana?

Is it harder to take a strong stance against alcohol and marijuana?

  • What drug could you best warn your teen

against using?

  • Can message be too strong and unrealis?c….
  • Or too soB?
  • Or no message at all?
  • Trea?ng some mood altering substances as

“soB” drugs flies in face of brain science.

  • Express a “no use” aKtude.
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The most powerful prevenXon tools?

  • The strength and clarity of your

convicXons….what you say and don’t say have tremendous power…whether you think your teens are listening or not.

  • Delaying the onset of early use of alcohol and
  • ther drugs.
  • Brain development in process and ongoing

un?l at least age 26.

The power that parents have…

  • Teens who have close rela?onship with their

parents less likely to become alcohol involved.

  • Children, teens watch their parents carefully.
  • One of the most consistent risk factors for

adolescent drinking/drug use is parental approval.

  • Adolescents who report low parental

monitoring are more likely to use substances.

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What parents think about marijuana use maYers to their kids!!

Source: 2014 Healthy Youth Survey Fact Sheet VHS

What parents think about alcohol use maYers to their kids !!

2014 Healthy Youth Survey Fact Sheet VHS

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Don’t wait to express your concerns about alcohol use

Source: 2014 Healthy Youth Survey

Don’t wait to express your concerns about marijuana use

Source: 2014 Healthy Youth Survey

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10th grade marijuana use down from 2012

Source: 2014 Healthy Youth Survey

10th grade alcohol use way down since 2012

Source: 2014 Healthy Youth Survey

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The AdapXve Adolescent is…

  • Less a rough draB than an exquisi?vely

sensi?ve, highly adaptable being wired almost perfectly for the job of moving from the safety of home into the complicated world outside. OR

  • Big engine, poor driving skills, faulty

breaks, and high-octane gas.

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Age of first use predicts adult dependence…

16

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Teen Brains Overvalue Reward, Undervalue Risk

  • Chief predictor of adolescent behavior is not

the percep?on of risk, but the an?cipa?on of reward despite the risk!

  • Drug use inhibits the development of new

memories and learning in the teen brain

  • Neural paths for reasoning, judgment, and

inhibi?ng impulses have yet to be fully established.

  • “What” were you thinking vs. “HOW”
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Teen brains are wired to take risks…

  • Increased risk-taking designed to help teens

learn new things, become independent.

  • Risk taking triggers the amygdala to release

dopamine and adrenaline that produce an emo?onal “high” and a feeling of excitement.

  • Drugs “hi-jack” the amygdala
  • Teens weigh risks as much or more than

adults

The Amygdala: flight, fight, freeze and emoXonal relevance…

Ø Fully developed at birth!!! Ø Wonder, awe, passion Ø Why we like things we do a lot. Ø Security alarm for our lives; learned fear. Ø “Cave boy story”; amygdala vs. PFC.

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Drugs shield children from dealing with reality…

  • And from mastering developmental tasks crucial

to their future.

  • The skills they lacked that leB them vulnerable to

drug abuse in the first place are the very ones that are stunted by drugs.

  • Youth will have difficulty establishing a clear

sense of iden?ty, mastering intellectual skills, and learning self-control.

  • Youth will chronologically mature while

remaining emo?onal adolescents. (Robert Schwebel)

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The adolescent brain on drugs

  • Drug use disrupts the pre-frontal cortex’s

capacity for reason and control.

  • Drug abuse disrupts the brain’s innate drive

for growth, and interferes with natural interests.

  • Floods reward system with dopamine
  • As much as 2 – 10 ?mes the dopamine from

natural rewards.

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AddicXon is an onset disorder of young people

  • The vast majority of people who suffer from

addic?on encountered the beginnings of their illness when they were teenagers.

  • Ninety percent (90%) of people who are

dependent on alcohol or other drugs started before they were twenty (20) years old.(HBO Addic?on)

23

How alcohol affects the teen brain

  • Can act as a s?mulant affec?ng inhibi?ons
  • Is a central nervous system depressant
  • Cerebellum- coordina?on, thoughts,

awareness.

  • Cerebral cortex- slows down processing.
  • Hypothalamus- body temp., heart rate

increase.

  • Frontal lobes-control of emo?ons, urges.
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Alcohol and Teen Brain cont’d.

  • Hippocampus- short, long term memory,

blackouts.

  • Low sensi?vity/high tolerance risks.
  • Overdose-central nervous system shugng

down.

  • “let him sleep it off…” dangers.

Marijuana: Age of first use/addicXon potenXal

  • Age of first use early as 10 and avg.12 -13.
  • Summer between grade 8 and 9!!!!
  • Use before age 15 predicts 63% will have adult
  • dependence. (Dennis 2002)
  • Recent NPR report: “Only 1 in 6 teens

becomes addicted…” !?!? That’s 17 %.

  • 50% of daily users become addicted.
  • “Dabbing” THC levels up to 90% !!!!!!

26

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Proliferation

  • f Images

27

Adult vs. teen risks

  • Marijuana is legal for 21 year olds
  • Medical cannabis may be helpful to some

adults with some medical condi?ons

  • Very lille proven evidence on efficacy and

safety of cannabis use for children and teens.

  • Should our message be affected by social

trends or brain science?

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Marijuana potency way up!!

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PercepXon of harm lowest since 1978

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EducaXonal and Life Outcomes

  • Lower sa?sfac?on with life
  • Academic pursuits perceived as less rewarding

and meaningful.

  • Lower grades and exam scores.
  • Less likely to graduate from High School
  • Less likely to enroll in college.
  • More likely to earn lower income.
  • More likely to be unemployed.
  • Nora Volkow - NIDA

33

Early pot use may change brain

  • Regular use before age 16 causes changes in

brain that can impair ability to focus, learn from mistakes, think abstractly.

  • Early users did more poorly on tests of

cogni?ve func?ons and mental flexibility.

  • Early chronic users “make repe??ve incorrect

responses even while being told they are wrong”; called cogni?ve inflexibility.

34

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Use causes lasXng changes to teen I.Q and “working memory”

  • Average I.Q. decline of 8 pts. (N.Z. study of

Teen use avg.THC 5%)

  • “Working memory” consists of brain

structures cri?cal to memory and reasoning.

  • A source of ready recall for basic informa?on

for solu?ons to everyday problems.

  • Working memory is a strong predictor of

academic achievement.

  • Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

35

Everything “seems” beYer when high…

  • Affects the amygdala – part of brain that

provides emo?onal relevance to memory.

  • Percep?on that “I do everything beler…”, or

everything feels beler…

  • Ar?ficial passion and meaning over-rides

natural rewards of the ac?vity.

  • Affects emo?onal regula?on.
  • Down-regulates brain – can’t feel awe and

wonder.

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EmoXons, social skills

  • Youth use drug to compensate for inadequate

social skills

  • May see daily use as their own “medica?on”

for depression, sadness, anxiety.

  • Connect the drug use with reduc?ons in

stress, sadness, anxiety, when in reality these feelings are being “masked” not reduced.

  • Makes happy, good feelings less rewarding.

37

THC and mental health

  • Depressed teens more than 2X more likely to

have used than non-depressed.

  • Teens who smoke marijuana at least 1X/

month are 3X more likely to have suicidal thoughts than non-users.

  • Teens who use marijuana to “self-medicate”

depression may worsen their condi?on.

  • Teen use may triggers psychosis, depression,

and other mental illness.

38

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Closing thoughts…

  • Parents need to be the mature, calm,

and reasonable Pre-Frontal Cortex for their kids.

  • Guiding them and integra?ng

emo?on, judgement,regula?on, reason.

Stay calm, focused, and confident

  • Parents who become aware of adolescent

brain development can feel less injured when their good kid does a bad thing.

  • Brain development explains why teens are so

quick to try new things and forge into the unknown…

  • BUT also explains why they s?ll need their

parents!!!