Assignment # 3: Teenage Alcohol Addiction

There are some many drugs out there. After several Biology classes, one start to realize that alcohol is only one of so many drugs. Even medicines are called drugs, and some of them can create dependency. Our class, Psychophysiology 432, deals with how the brain works, and how drugs (medicines, illegal, even caffeine) affect our brains and its functions. The most important reason as to why alcohol addiction is so important to study and stop during adolescence, it because the brain, according to studies, is not fully formed until the last part of our 20s. The purpose of this paper is to design a treatment strategy for addressing substance abuse (in this case is teenage alcohol abuse) and/or dependence. I will also address the environmental context of substance abuse, detoxification and minimizing lapse. Alcohol, after caffeine, it is the most used psychoactive drug in America and is certainly the drug most abused (Meyer, 2005). Teenagers can observe alcohol use and abuse can be at home, among peers, and in TV advertising. Alcohol has been used among humans as far as 8000 BC, when mead was brewed from fermented honey (Meyer, 2005). The English who colonized America brought their heavy use of alcohol (beer, wine, gin, among other alcoholic beverages), and today the use of alcohol is restricted by age and circumstance , and regulated to some extent by an increase in the cost of consumption, the sin tax ( Meyer, 2005). In this essay I will write about ethyl alcohol, C2H5O, which is the alcohol that can be consumed without causing blindness, coma or death. I decided to write about a treatment strategy for teenagers because they are different from adults in the sense that the brain does not fully develop until age thirty; alcoholism and drug addiction can permanently damage not only the brain, but also vital organs of young adults. Also, teenagers have a special set of problems, in many cases different from Valenzuela1

adults problems, and teens tend to abuse multiple substances, while adults are more singular in their substance abuse. I do consider them our future, and is really sad to see a young life wasted because of a substance abuse problem. The first thing that needs to be done is localize where teenagers learn/ try alcohol: they can see their parents drinking until they get completely drunk; they can start to drink with peers, because they think that is a socially-approved behavior, and finally they could start drinking because of : psychological factors, such as depression. It is known that certain individuals metabolize alcohol in different ways, from normal alcohol metabolism of alcohol to the less-efficient alcohol metabolism, because of the ALDH gene (Meyer, 2005). The services will be offered in a public urban facility, which will be available for minors from 12 to 21 years old. Counselors will be available for parents and teens. Counselors will receive their patients by appointments, unless there is an emergency. Emergencies could be treated in site, in a special pavilion of the facility. Only patients and their parents will be admitted in the Emergency pavilion. The doors will be open from 8-5 pm, which are normal office hours; an emergency line will be implemented for teens in emergency substance abuse situation and for parents with an emergency related to teen substance abuse situation. Medical insurances can and will be used to pay for treatment, but there will be also money donations, voluntary time, federal, state and county funding. The money will be used to pay for medical doctors, nurses, office assistants, staff, counselors, and medicine used to treat alcohol addiction. The approach used to help teens break out of their alcohol-abuse dependence will consist of two parts: the first part will be counseling, with individual and peer group sessions. Teens respond better when confronted about their addictions in front of their peers. There has to be a detoxification, where: the teen will stop drinking alcohol immediately and abruptly, and alcohol Valenzuela2

will be substituted with drugs that have similar effects to alcohol, in order to prevent alcohol withdrawal. The drugs that could be used during the withdrawal are: a benzodiazepine such as chlordiazepoxide or diazepam, which prevents the alcoholic withdrawal symptoms, including seizures, and DTs (Meyer, 2005). The long acting nature of the drugs stabilizes the patient, and doses are gradually reduced, while withdrawal symptoms are minimized. Withdrawal symptoms include: agitation, alcoholic hallucinosis, anorexia, anxiety and panic attacks, catatonia, confusion, delirium tremens, depression, derealization, diaphoresis, diarrhea, euphoria, fear, gastrointestinal upset, hallucinations, headache, hypertension, hyperthermia, insomnia, irritability, migraines, nausea and vomiting, palpitations, psychosis, rebound REM sleep, restlessness, seizures and death, seating, tachycardia, tremors and weakness. The second part will be evaluation of the teen/patient, so it can be decided if the teen patient needs medicine to complete their rehabilitation. Pharmacological treatment could include: disulfuran, naltrexsone, and acamprosate, all of them makes the ingestion of alcohol unpleasant. How to administer will be decided individually, since every teen patient will have a different degree of substance abuse. Also, the medicines used during the withdrawal period will help the teen patient to help minimize a relapse. Drug therapy in conjunction with psychosocial therapy seems to improve the outcome of alcoholism treatment. Group therapy is highly indicated, along with individual, and family therapy. Once the teen patient completes the program (which can be on different times according to the individuals), the family must complete therapy along with the patient, mostly because the teen patient needs extra support from their families. Part of therapy will be information about the effects and consequences of alcoholism, brain damage, liver and other organs damage, how alcoholism can minimize the opportunities to be a parent, and how alcohol affects the unborn fetus. Also, make sure our patient understands that Valenzuela3

sometimes alcoholism is the first step to try other high-risk drugs, such as heroin and crack cocaine. Teenagers will have to be convinced that alcoholism is so damaging to their health and can lead to premature death, among other problems; I suggest the best way to convince them is through explicit pictures of the consequences of alcohol and drug abuse, presented as a power point during group therapies, because otherwise they consider alcoholism to be a requisite to be accepted among their peers. Another suggestion is to invite former alcoholics to talk about their addictions and the consequences in their lives.

Alcoholism is considered a disease. Every year a high number of teenagers start to consume alcohol from an early age; the reasons as diverse as peer pressure, social acceptance, and watching parents consume alcohol in high quantities; also is consumed to get away from reality. Teenagers are a special group, since they do not share the same problems as adults. The brain of teens is still developing, and if they start drinking alcohol there is high possibility teens will consume other higher-risk drugs, such as cocaine. I think its important to preserve our next generations, and helping teens out of drinking alcohol is one of them.

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Bibliography

1. - http://www.stopalcoholabuse.gov/ 2. - http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/Pages/default.aspx

3. - Jerrold S. Meyer, and Quenzer, Linda. Psychopharmacology: Drugs, the Brain, and Behavior.2005. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Publishers. Massachusetts.

4. - http://www.thecoolspot.gov/

5. - http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/

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