“Adolescents are complicated critters”, said Dr. Jeff M.Georgi a well-known clinical specialist in addiction at Duke University’s department of psychiatry and surgery. I thought back to my own kids and the students I work with and nodded. He continued: “Their brains are biologically vulnerable and psychologically impacted by exposure to adverse social settings”.
Even though I have taken a number of physiological psychology courses, this workshop I attended at the recent IECA national conference, honed in on new research that links early nicotine use to a high probability of addiction. Dr. Georgi explained that the earlier kids start smoking, the more programmed for addiction their brain becomes. In other words, nicotine has a sticky way of priming the developing brain by getting into all the nooks and crannies, thus predisposing the brain to seek out substances that produce those feelings. Exposing a developing brain to nicotine primes it for addiction. No other substance has such a tragic effect.
During my clinical field experience, I attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, where people would smoke during the break and then return to the hall where they worked on their alcohol addiction. Their smoking addiction was not even addressed, and it was clear to me that while they could quit drinking using the 12-steps program among supportive peers, they were sucking on those cigarettes for dear life. Were they trying to give up alcohol when the nicotine addiction had started it all? If nicotine is the root of the addiction shouldn’t we all try to stop young people from starting and help those who are already addicted tackle the root cause of their illness? This thinking had never occurred to me prior to attending this workshop. Dr. Georgi’s research implies that if teens don’t start smoking, they are much less likely to succumb to addiction
Dr. Georgi pointed out what many adults know: teens are excitement seekers and boredom is deadly for them. Physiologically, if those places in the brain that make and retain memories (the amygdola and hippocampus) are not active, the frontal cortex, that performs many functions loosely called cognition, is also not active and kids experience boredom. Teens seek novelty because it results in an increase of dopamine, a substance that gives pleasure to the receptors in the brain. Bored teens are likely to take more risks to get out of their boredom and fulfill their biological mandate. In proper dosage, dopamine allows people to enjoy themselves, but too much causes over stimulation. Teens do not have fully gown neurons in the pre-frontal cortex until their twenties, so their judgment and planning ability is easily compromised. (The neurons in the brain are like a tree, the trunk and branches are called the axion and dendrites respectively). In kids these branches are not yet fully myelinated, or covered with a sheath or coating of myelin. If these “naked” or uncovered dendrites get coated with nicotine, they become programmed for addiction.
Teens absolutely need novelty and excitement, some of which is positive such as roller-coasting, white-water rafting and even skydiving can be relatively safe. However, a sky-dive does not last three hours or the diver would be dead. Too much stimulation is not good. Too much drive and shame toward perfectionism interferes with learning in school. We don’t learn when we are terrified or humiliated. According to Dr. Georgi, the same brain cells that benefit from novelty die with too much stimulation. For instance, when a child is subjected to a traumatic event, the hippocampus shuts down and does not remember, but the amygdola registers and stores the events subconsciously. This is important to know when helping teens who were traumatized, because the memories you make in adolescence are memories you keep. If adolescents don’t take advantage of their brain’s ability to learn during their teen years, their window narrows, the unused branches or dendrites get cut off. It’s why we want our teens to experience events that produce good memories, to have good relationships, and to experience emotional safety.
We want to challenge our teens socially, physically, emotionally and academically because purposeful attention helps maturation of the prefrontal lobe, that part of the brain that stores working memory and other functions needed for higher learning.
An overall recipe for teens’ health is seeing two parents who love each other. They need to see the commitment and courtesy between mom and dad. They need to see healthy role models: girls need to be exposed to strong women who have power and choose their relationships wisely. Boys need to identify with dads who love, respect and take care of their mate and the children. If mom or dad is drinking every night and s/he can’t help it, s/he sets the example for the children to follow. In our practice we refer teens to special programs where they learn to self-regulate and make better decisions for themselves. However, when they return to a family that has not changed, there’s a gravitational pull toward regression. Successful intervention requires significant time to solidify lasting change in both parents and teen.
There’s a myth about college students drinking, that they study hard, work hard and play hard. Research shows that binge drinking destroys the pre-frontal cortex, which moderates impulsivity among other functions. Impulsivity increases the risk for addiction. (UNC Researchers: Crews FT, Boettinger CA). Students may have studied in the library for 6 hours, if they then go out drinking they wipe out what much of what they just learned. However, it should be pointed out that college is not “Animal House” anymore. The majority of college students do not abuse alcohol. It’s important to dispel this myth so students will not expect themselves to drink once they enter college.
A recent article printed in the Chronicle of Higher Education indicates that a few college presidents at very elite colleges are considering lowering the drinking age, perhaps because they think their high-achieving students are mature and sensible enough to decide for themselves. Smoking which is even more pernicious a substance was not mentioned. It too should be made illegal to purchase before age 21. Dr. Georgi makes it clear that it makes no sense to lower the drinking age when an 18-year-old brain is still at the mid-point of development. An 18 year old is not capable of making the decisions that a 23-year-old can. Dr. Georgi concluded: “If we are going to do something stupid, let’s not do it in the face of this tidal wave of facts and information”.
C. Claire Law, M.S. IECA Certified Educational Planner, is the author of Find the Perfect College for You, based on matching a student’s MBTI® personality preference to the best-fit colleges. Claire is the founder and president of Edcational Avenues. She can be reached at claire@eduave.com
Bibliography: Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are by Joseph LeDoux Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy (Third Edition) by Cynthia Kuhn, Scott Swartzwelder, and Wilkie Wilson
