Adolescent and Theraputic Issues

After reviewing the videos: Adolescent Brain, Dr. Randal Pinkett on Judge Hatchett Show Mentoring a Teen, Wyoming Camp for Troubled Teens, and One Move At A Time. I noticed that all the video dealt with troubled teens who only needed a change in their environment and someone to encourage them and show them that they could do better. I think that we as adults are easily willing to give up on children in today's society, we are quick to say that they are trouble makers, uncontrollable, or even evil. But as mentioned in the Adolescent Brain video, the adolescent years are when the brain is producing more and more of the gray matter in the frontal lobe of the brain, which is referred to as the thinking part of the brain; unfortunately this is the time when adolescents are experimenting with drugs and risky behavior, and because we are quick to outcast them I think we are giving them the go ahead to carry out the behaviors that they display. As mentioned in the video, Adolescent Brain, if a child does not use the cells developing in their brains then they loose them, be it not being active, or drugs. If we look back during the 50's and 60's I don't think that children behavior was a difficult as it is today. I think that our values and services to children have changed. I can remember witnessing a child threaten his parents with social service, if they did not allow him to go the neighborhood dance. I think we have given the adolescents more freedom and less rules. children want discipline, but if they see that they can get away with something then that a chance that their willing to take. I think that adolescents have too much free time and need more positive activities in their lives

Assignment 9 of 9

After watching the videos; Heroin Addicts Speak, choice or Disease, Cross- Addiction: The Back Door to Relapse, and Killing the Pain. I think that you did a great job at showing that drug abuse can happen to any one not just some poor or uneducated person. I think these videos show how easy it is for someone to loose everything by abusing substances, and not recognize or seem to care that they're destroying their lives. I noticed that many of the participates in the videos were educated, had a great life, thought they had everything under control, and wished they could live a normal life. I did not agree with the choice argument that says that, " Addiction can't be a disease because drug taking is a behavior and all behaviors are choices." When I first entered this course I also thought that substance abuse was a behavior and not a disease. I think that by learning more about substances and the behavior of the human brain I may have to change my thoughts. In The video Choice or disease, a comparison was made between diabetes and substance abuse; which says, that substance abuse is a choice, and diabetes is not, but if we look at it, is diabetes not a choice? I mean our diet is a choice, I know some people can't help what they eat and what their genes pass on to them, just as some people's drug problems are not exactly their fault. I noticed in the Killing the Pain video, some of the abusers started out trying to alleviate pain. I don't know. I guess we all have our addictions or things that make us comfortable; just knowing when and how to control them is sometimes difficult.

Assignment 8 of 9

After reading through TIP 31. I notice that it is covered by different laws and social services, asses people 11 to 21 years old, and has a time limit for assessing adolescents. There are legal issues of screening and assessing teenagers, including confidentially, duty to warn, and how to communicate with other agencies. As mentioned in the reading, "Adolescents differ from adults both physiologically and emotionally..." so special assessments and screenings are necessary and needed to improve the services to adolescents. I think that if the resources and time is concentrated on adolescents then we can prevent them from becoming adult substance abusers. Unlike adults; adolescent have not yet fully developed physically, psychological, or emotional; which leaves them susceptible to psychological issues, while already dealing with the issues of being a teen; such as sexuality, egocentrism, and peer pressure.