When teenagers and young adults in Missouri and Kansas struggle with addiction and alcohol abuse, some turn to outpatient groups based on the idea that substance abuse treatment has to be fun and feel good for it to stick but former clients say the programs pushed them into reckless behavior.
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Despite advances in technology and availability, one of the best ways for parents and health care providers to prevent or help stop adolescent substance use is still an old-fashioned conversation, according to a new Viewpoint published in the November issue of The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.
SOUTH KINGSTOWN Armed with a federal grant of nearly $2 million, University of Rhode Island neuroscientist, researcher and professor Sarah Feldstein Ewing is studying new treatment possibilities for young people who engage in heavy drinking and substance use.
The goal, according to Feldstein Ewing, is to intervene with young people with different approaches than their older counterparts, whose brains are developmentally different than adolescents.
“We’re treating kids who have been drinking for maybe two years, and we’re talking about relapse and asking kids to abstain,” the researcher said in a URI announcement of her work. “These concepts that may make sense if you’ve been drinking for 30 years are a little more far-fetched if you’re 15 and just binge drinking over prom weekend.”
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Professor Sarah Feldstein Ewing
Adolescent brains are developmentally distinct from adults, resulting in different reasons for engaging in risky behavior like substance abuse, which makes it difficult for clinicians to know how to approach addiction treatment with younger patients. While they require different approaches to treatment, adolescents often receive addiction treatment based on adult models, limiting its effectiveness.
A University of Rhode Island College of Health Sciences professor and neuro scientist is aiming to find better approaches to treating adolescent addiction. Clinical Psychology Professor Sarah Feldstein Ewing, the College s endowed Prochaska Professor of Population Health, started as a clinical psychologist treating adolescents engaging heavy alcohol and cannabis use. She found the common frameworks used to treat adults were are not hitting the mark with younger patients, who often have different motivations for engaging in such risky behavior.