For every parent or family member of a teenager who wants to understand or for any teen who feel misunderstood. Looking at the brain scans of teenagers reveals some of the biological reasons for misunderstandings and difficulties during this stage of development.
Study from SFU looks at Drug Addiction and Social Isolation
The current prevailing idea of addiction largely comes from 70's lab experiments that supported the notion that drugs are scary and powerful and that any one of us could become addicted through mere exposure.
But scientists and psychologists now consider this notion to be too simplistic and research from SFU supports theories of the complexity of addiction.
Psychologist Bruce Alexander at SFU suspected that previous experiments involving rats and drug use, which found that given the choice rats would chose drugs to food and water even at the cost of dying, did not take into account the social isolation the rats experienced during the experiment.
To test the effects of social isolation on drug use among rats, Alexander built an enriched social environment where rats could socialize and play and compared the rats intake of morphine from intake of rats kept in isolation. Not surprisingly they found that rats in the social environment avoided the use of drugs and preferred socializing with other rats and that those in isolation used more morphine presumably due to the stress of isolation.
Stuart McMillen's RAT DRUG PARK COMIC beautifully illustrates the studies and their implications.
How should we talk about Mental Health?
Recent polls across western countries found Canadians most open to discuss mental health:). Although this is great news to feel proud about, we still have a ways to go in normalizing and ending the stigma of mental illness.
An article on Ted.com lays out what we can do to help open up communication about mental health.
Two of our favourites tips are:
Separate the person from the problem : Language is a powerful tool and calling identifying someone by their mental illness can be disempowering. They recommend seperating the person from the problem by saying things like "someone with schizophrenia" not a "schizophrenic". This is also a good tip when referring to our own issues, as in "I am suffering from depression" or "I have been feeling depressed" rather than "I am depressed".
The article makes a point of explaining that what this does is describe the issue and something that is "not part of a person" but rather "something the person is suffering from or living with".
Recognize the achievements of people with Mental Health issues : There are a lot of amazing people who have suffered from mental health issues. The article says that we should be "emphasizing how many really creative people, people whose books we love,whose movies we love,their arts,have has a lot or problems with depression" and that part of the same genetics that many cause depression could also be the cause of sensitivity and creativity.