4 Troubled Teens Blog

Spending too much time on the Internet can make you depressed, according to a new study from the University of Leeds in Great Britain.

Researchers were unsure if Internet use causes depression, or if depressed people are more likely to spend too much time on computers.

People who spend excessive amounts of time online are more likely than than average users to be looking at sexual and gaming websites and interacting on online communities. If they substitute real life relationships for online conversations, there can be a "serious impact on their mental health," according to Dr. Catriona Morrison, the study's lead author.

Labels: depression, addictions, internet

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Naresh (not his real name) is 15-years-old and lives in Mumbai, India. According to an Aug. 24 Rediff Business article, Naresh spends eight to ten hours a day playing Internet-based computer games.

His parents have tried everything to get him to cut back, but attempts to cut access to the Internet or his computer have resulted in threats to run away or commit suicide. Writer Leslie D'Monte reports that Naresh is showing symptoms of being addicted to the Internet:

While mental health experts agree that the Internet has provided valuable service to people looking for support groups and treatment options through websites, newsgroups and email lists, they also caution that Internet surfing, gaming and texting can become an addiction akin to "being on drugs".

A survey of British Internet users, in fact, uses the term "discomgoogolation" to refer to a distressing condition, characterized by anxiety and stress at not being able to access the Internet.

These users showed changes in brain activity and blood pressure. An editorial last year in the American Journal of Psychiatry stated that internet addiction is a common compulsive/ impulsive disorder that should be added to the psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders which will be updated in 2012.

Though some parents may be hesitant to describe their children's computer obsessions as addictions, evidence is mounting to support the belief that people can, indeed, be addicted to video games and the Internet.

Labels: video_games, addictions, internet

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A study of 1,178 young people between the ages of eight and 18 years old found that 88 percent played video games, and almost one in ten shows several symptoms of being addicted to them.

The study, which was led by Dr. Douglas Gentile of the University of Iowa, found that 12 percent of the boys and 8 percent of the girls who played games had at least six out of eleven symptoms of addiction. Those who were addicted to the games were twice as likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Children had signs of addiction if they agreed to the following statements:

• They skipped homework to play games.


• They played to escape their problems.


• They were restless and irritable if not allowed to play.


• They lied about how much they played.


• They had stolen a game or stolen money for a game.


• They had poor test scores because they neglected homework to play video games.


• They had tried to quit and failed.


• They thought excessively about gaming.

Though many enthusiasts incorrectly employ the word "addiction" when discussing the object of their passion, video game addiction has been identified as a legitimate mental health disorder that can be treated with effective professional intervention.

Labels: video_games, addictions, teens, adolescent

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A new study from the University of Kentucky found that only 10% of the 1.4 million American teenagers with substance abuse problems receive treatment. One reason is that most teen treatment programs are of only medium quality.

Dr. Hannah Knudsen found that fewer than one-third of the addiction treatment programs have special teen components. Of the 154 programs she selected at random, only a small number scored high in nine areas of quality. The high-quality programs, fewer than 30% of those evaluated, offered more intensive treatment services, such as residential or inpatient treatment.

"For parents looking for high-quality programs that offer the most comprehensive array of services, a good indicator is whether the program has an inpatient or residential level of care," she said. "The lack of comprehensive services in substance abuse programs for teens raises questions about whether teens will get what they need since we know they are likely to have co-occurring psychiatric conditions and to engage in HIV high-risk behaviors."

This study appears in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

Labels: addictions, treatment_programs, drug_use

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Dr. Margaret Dowell, adjunct professor at Carroll Community College (Maryland) presented her students with a challenging assignment: Create works of art that highlight the dangers of drug use and addiction.

"Three galleries at Carroll Community College will be crammed with artwork for 'Art and Addiction: Artistic Insights into Addiction in Recovery,' a program co-sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine."

The exhibit opened Nov. 2. Source: Carroll County Times

Labels: addictions, students, arts

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The National Institute of Drug Abuse estimates that teenagers and young adults are the largest groups currently using prescription medication for recreational purposes. In NIDA's most recent survey on teens and drugs, 36 percent of high school seniors admitted to having used drugs at least once in the previous 12 months.

"Many adults.... may not realize that it could be poor judgment to leave those medications accessible around the home. For example, a teen's mother just returned home after having surgery. That teen knows her mother is taking a pain reliever called OxyContin. When no one is looking, the teen gets into the bottle and gets a couple of pills. No one is the wiser."

Pain relievers, stimulants, sedatives and tranquilizers are the most commonly misused and abused prescription drugs. Parents need to keep prescription medications locked up, and should observe their teens for common indicators of a drug or alcohol problem. Source: The Purell Register


Learn everything you want to know (and some things you might not want to know) about prescription drug abuse at http://www.teenoverthecounterdrugabuse.com.

Drug Rehab information

Labels: addictions, medications, prescription_drug_abuse

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A young girl recently wrote to a local advice column seeking guidance about her friend. "Emma," as the friend was referred to, is 14 years old and like a little sister to the writer. But Emma had recently begun hanging out with 18- and 19-year-old boys who let her drink and smoke pot. "What should 'big sis' do?" the writer asked.

"Tell Emma's mother now. Because Emma's father is an alcoholic, she already has the predisposition to become one. The longer you procrastinate, the greater her chances of getting into serious trouble - and face it, she's already well on her way."

It's not always easy to do what's best for friends, but making difficult decisions such as this is an important part of friendship. Sometimes teens have to act in a manner that will make a friend mad now, but will benefit her in the long run. Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Labels: addictions, peers, girls

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Dr. Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse wants to know how exercise can help prevent drug or alcohol abuse. The possible connection was first brought to her attention through a study that reported that teens and tweens who exercised were half as likely to smoke and 40 percent less likely to try marijuana than were their sedentary peers.

"The best evidence: Brown University took smokers to the gym three times a week and found adding the exercise to a smoking-cessation program doubled women's chances of successfully kicking the habit."

Volkow invited 100 exercise and neurobiology experts to a two-day conference where she announced that a $4 million research grant was being made available for further research. Though it has yet to be proved, initial studies show that the benefits of exercise extend beyond physical health and appearance. Source: Associated Press

Labels: prevention, addictions, exercise

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The cover story in the March 3rd edition of Newsweek, titled "The Hunt for an Addiction Vaccine," has lots of people talking. It also marks a shift in the study of addiction recovery.

"The addict's brain is malfunctioning, as surely as the pancreas in someone with diabetes. In both cases, 'lifestyle choices' may be a contributing factor, but no one regards that as a reason to withhold insulin from a diabetic. 'We are making unprecedented advances in understanding the biology of addiction,' says David Rosenblum, a public-health professor and addiction expert at Boston University."

New scientific discoveries are helping the medical community better understand how an addicted brain functions, which means that medications could be developed to block a drug's effect on the brain. Read more at HealthNewsDigest.com.

Labels: addictions, treatment_programs, vaccine

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This year's Monitoring the Future survey has found that drug use among adolescents is continuing to decline. Reported use of some drugs declined significantly.

"Annual prevalence for the three grades combined [8th, 10th, and 12th] did fall significantly this year for both Ritalin and methamphetamine. Ritalin is a prescription amphetamine drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Its use outside of medical supervision was first measured in the study in 2001; it has been falling since then, with total declines of between 25 percent and 42 percent at each grade level."

Though use of many drugs has decreased, some - unfortunately - have increased. Over-the-counter cold medication and ecstasy both increased, though neither increase was significant. Monitoring the Future is an annual study sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and conducted by the University of Michigan.

Labels: addictions, prescription_drug_abuse, drug_use

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A study suggests that teens can become dependent on cigarettes within just a few days of trying them, and that even infrequent smoking can lead to nicotine addiction.

About 40% of those in the study who tried cigarettes and began to smoke them every day developed tobacco dependence.

• Researchers studied 1246 sixth graders over a four-year period.
• The average age of experimenting with cigarettes was 12.8 years, and 217 of the students in the study tried smoking.
• One of the most surprising results of the study was how quickly some students began to experience cravings for cigarettes.
• About 10% lost autonomy within two days.

This study appeared in the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Labels: addictions, smoking, cigarettes

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A study released May 20 found that teenagers who are addicted to the internet are more likely to hurt themselves. More than 1,600 teens were surveyed for the study, which was conducted in Southeast China.

While only about 10 percent of the students surveyed were moderately addicted to the internet, and less than 1 percent were severely addicted, those students were 2.4 times more likely to have self-injured one to five times in the past 6 months than students with normal internet habits, Dr. Lawrence T. Lam from University of Notre Dame, Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia, and colleagues found. [Source: Reuters]

Additionally, teenagers who were moderately to severely addicted were nearly five times more likely than other teens to have intentionally hurt themselves six times or more in the past six months.

Researchers didn’t hypothesize on the causal relationship between internet addiction and self-harm, but instead urged parents to watch for signs of internet addiction, with the understanding that an addicted teen is more likely to be hurting himself, too.

 

Labels: addictions, internet, self-harm

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