Abuse And Addiction In Adolescence

Running Head: Abuse and Addiction in Adolescence 1

Abuse and Addiction in Adolescence

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Abuse and Addiction in Adolescence 2

Abuse and Addiction in Adolescence

Abuse is the use of substances like drug and alcohol in excess. Addiction refers to a

disorder caused by the severe use of a substance (Grant & Debora, 1998). Specialists of

addiction agree that everyone that uses alcohol or drug does not necessarily develop the

addiction problem. There are some factors that influence drug abuse; they include the genetics

and family history, the period that the drug is used, the age at which the drugs are introduced.

More so, how frequent the drug is used and the absence or presence of family and friend support

systems are important determiners.

There is a distinction between drug abuse and addiction. Addiction in one sense results

from use of a substance with a certain impact on the brain’s reward center. The continuous

stimulation of the reward center causes changes in the brain functionality (Volkow et al., 2009).

In the end, a person refrains from other aspects of normal life, such as sleeping, eating and

sometimes sexual activity. On the other hand, abuse involves misuse of medication or the use

of the illegal substance like Marijuana. Abuse is the basis of addiction and statistics have shown

that most of the people who suffer from drug abuse end up in addiction.

The recurrent use of substance results from the lack of accomplishment of work and

obligations at home or school. Activities and risky situations like driving under the influence

or with the withdrawal symptoms due to failure to use the substance prove that the effects are

fatal. The development of tolerance due to the continuous use of drug substance in spite of

interpersonal and social problems arising from effects of that substance has posed to be a major

blow to the recovering victims. Tolerance develops after a long period of using drugs until a

person gets the persisting desire and urge to acquire the drugs causing the addiction.

Drug abuse alters brain development of the adolescent. First, damage to delicate

developing neural connections because the substance mostly affects and interfere with the

functioning of neurotransmitters (Crews et al., 2007). Second, choices and habits linked to

Abuse and Addiction in Adolescence 3

alcohol and drug use become ingrained in how the brain is wired. Finally, substance use affects

perception and alters the development of perceptual skills. Based on the spiritual aspect, and

research has found out that adolescents who regularly attend religious services are not likely to

use illegal drugs and alcohol. While adolescents that do not attend such services are more likely

to abuse drugs and use alcohol. Statistics show that there is a high rate of drug and alcohol

abuse among the youths in America (Humphreys, 2016). Research shows that alcohol and drug

abuse are prevalent in high schools. The main causes include the availability of drugs and

alcohol, peer pressure, parental absence, stress, rebellion, lack of awareness and harsh

discipline.

The media has been portraying the drug abuse as social ill with a lot of condemnation.

A case to prove this is the advertisement featuring the popular Chad Fleischer, who is a

renowned skier. He asks if people would think that he takes drugs and concludes to say that

skiing is in the real sense her anti-drug. Popular Olympians have also featured in the media to

show that drugs are not good to use. Distancing oneself from the use of drug through these

media campaigns have helped many, mainly kids, in avoiding drug abuse. There also a

confusion that arises from the mixed messages that are portrayed by the music in the media. A

good example is the Marijuana song “Because I Got High”. The song gives reasons as to why

drug usage is justified. This, among other cases in the media, makes the parents and the

advocates of anti-drug be worried. However, the future is promising with the intensification of

the campaign against drug abuse that eventually lead to addiction. The negative effects are

being factored in the sensitization with warnings on abused substances being underscored.

Abuse and Addiction in Adolescence 4

Works Cited

Crews, F., He, J., & Hodge, C. (2007). Adolescent cortical development: a critical period of

vulnerability for addiction. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 86(2), 189

199.

Grant, B. F., & Dawson, D. A. (1998). Age of onset of drug use and its association with

DSM-IV drug abuse and dependence: results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol

Epidemiologic Survey. Journal of substance abuse, 10(2), 163-173.

Humphreys, K. (2016). Grappling with the generalizability crisis in addiction treatment

research. Addiction, 111(7), 1141-1142.

Volkow, N. D., Fowler, J. S., Wang, G. J., Baler, R., & Telang, F. (2009). Imaging

dopamine's role in drug abuse and addiction. Neuropharmacology, 56, 3-8.

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