Intervention In Adolescence

Adolescence can be a difficult and stressful point in one’s life, and we know from the video and the readings this week that stress can be an environmental trigger to some genetic components of substance abuse and could likely increase one’s risk for developing an addictive disorder (Volkow, Janda, Nestler, & Levine, 2014). I enjoyed the video this week because it talked about addiction as a chronic disease and an issue of mental health instead of seeing it from a criminal perspective. The readings this week also touch on adolescence and why this age group may be so susceptible to addiction, and one of the reasons is because an “early onset of drug problems has been associated with increased risk of continued use in adulthood” (Bertrand et …show more content…
Treatments can be within families, and types of family therapy and family involvement are effective (Bertrand et al., 2013). Treatments can also come from the school setting, and “school-based interventions have been recommended to be implemented to reduce this burden given initiation of such drug use typically occurs during adolescence” (Hodder et al., 2014). There needs to be a community approach to treatment with the needs of the community taken into account and focusing on both selective and environmental prevention strategies (MacKinnon-Lewis, 2016). Because children and adolescents are still developing physically and mentally they become at risk for creating these drives for risky behavior that may include drug or alcohol use. We need to create programs that focus on overall well-being because “interventions incorporating a mental well-being approach may have the best chance of impacting substance use” (Hodder et al., 2014). I think that the work outlined in the video and readings this week regarding substance use in adolescents and adults paves the way for future treatment because it focuses on genetic factors, environmental factors, and prevention strategies that all focus on long-term treatment for substance use