Diagnosis and treatment of teen drug use.
Small but significant decreases in adolescent abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana in recent national surveys allow clinicians to feel some optimism about defeating the specter of substance abuse. It appears that changing the perception of risk and increasing adolescent disapproval of substance abuse are key goals. For every adolescent, reducing risk factors while identifying and enhancing protective factors optimizes an individual's opportunity to avoid potentially harmful behaviors. While focusing energy and commitment on each adolescent, however, clinicians cannot ignore the need for wider social change because the proximal adolescent domains of individual, family, and school factors are interrelated and embedded in the community and societal contexts. Every sector in society plays a crucial role in preventing adolescents from experimenting with and continuing to abuse tobacco, alcohol, or illicit drugs, from parents, physicians, educators, and policy makers to every adult invested in the health and well-being of adolescents.
Department of Pediatrics, Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. hogan003@tc.umn.edu
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010553:Personality Development; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation