Title: Biology and Functioning of The Teenage Brain: Implications of Drug Use Municipal Alliance Presentation 4/16/08
1(No Transcript)
2Biology and Functioning of The Teenage Brain
Implications of Drug Use Municipal Alliance
Presentation4/16/08
- Doug Leonard, D.O.
- Chair of Psychiatry Our Lady of Lourdes
- Assistant Professor of Psychiatry UMDNJ-SOM
3Overview
- We will briefly describe some of the new
Neuroscience findings about the Adolescent Brain - Look at basic Neuroanatomy and Neurotransmitters
that are essential to understanding of the very
deleterious effects of drugs of abuse - Known for long time its a bad idea. We are now
developing a neuroscience facts showing why it is
so bad - Trends in Teenage Substance Abuse
- Offer resources for further information
4Biopsychosocial Model
Biology Dramatic physical changes Neurodevelopmen
tal changes
Social Dating separation or divorce
of parents school demands and frustrations
problems with friends unsafe
living environment/neighborhood death of a loved
one changing schools
Psychological Separation-Individuation high
expectations negative thoughts and feelings about
themselves Coping Style past experiences with
stress taking on too many activities or having
too
5Biopsychosocial Model Psychological
- Separation-Individuation
- Increased risk-taking and exploration
- Increase in conflicts with authority, including
parents - Extreme changes in mood and attitude from
pleasant and loving and lovable child - Could pick up our DSM and make a number of
diagnoses based on behaviors and symptoms
presented - Taking on too many activities or having too many
demands
6Biopsychosocial Model Social
- An increase in time spent with peers and a
decrease in time spent with one's family - Dating
- Separation or divorce of parents
- School demands and frustrations
- Problems with friends
- Unsafe living environment/neighborhood
- Death of a loved one
- Changing schools
7Biopsychosocial Model Biology
- Dramatic physical changes
- Puberty (sexual maturation)
- Changes in sleep patterns, including a tendency
to go to sleep later and wake up later - Neurodevelopmental changes-topic for tonight
8Brain Overview
- The brain is an amazingly complex, still poorly
understood, organ. Hundreds of billions of cells
bathe one another in chemical messengers that
influence moment to moment changes in brain
function, behavior, and experience. - Some chemical messengers can also trigger changes
in gene expression in other cells, leading to
long-term changes in how they look and operate,
and how the individual thinks and acts. - The current chemical milieu of your brain governs
how you feel at this very moment -- how attentive
you are, whether you are deeply satisfied with
your life, whether your foot itches, you name
it.
9http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teen
brain/
10Frontline Inside the Teenage Brain
- The period of Adolescence is another key
neurodevelopmental stage for brain growth that is
as important as the growth that occurred during
the first three years of life. - Dr. Jay Giedd of NIMH speaks of a second wave of
overproduction of brain neurons, esp. in
Prefrontal Cortex - First wave of overproduction beginning in utero
until 18 months of life - Involves Thickening of the cortex (outer layer of
brain essential for our cognitive abilities)
11Frontline Inside the Teenage Brain
- By 6 years of age childs brain has reached 95
of adult size, but cortex thickening continues,
making connections - Overproduction of neurons followed by Pruning of
the neural networks that is a vital part of
development and organizing of neural pathways. - Pruning allows us to focus attention and skills,
it is a process that allows for tremendous
attention and learning of skill sets. - Principle of Use it or Lose it is especially true
during this time of Pruning - Unused pathways pruned out thus giving
specificity to thinking and skills. Adolescent
can play sports, and music OR video games on a
couch. - Ex) presentation
12Prefrontal Cortex
- Called the CEO of the brain
- Involved with planning, strategizing, and
organizing, initiating attention and stopping and
starting and shifting attention. - Fundamental for planning, use of strategies
- Cognitive Flexibility- can you change your mind
and think of situations in fluid manner which
helps to solve problems. - Helps to regulate mood swings secondary to
hormonal changes (gas pedal) - High risk behavior has always been part of
Adolescence, but is always coupled with the
Immature Frontal Cortex (brakes)
13Prefrontal Cortex
- Vital in helping us identify emotional tone of
faces - Adolescents will misread faces due to their
reliance on use of limbic structures (gut feel)
preferentially over prefrontal cortex - As Prefrontal cortex develops identifying
emotional tones of faces becomes more reliable - Teens will often see emotions that are not in the
other individual. Can lead to overreaction and
perplexing responses in social situations.
14Cerebellum
- Part of the brain that changes the most during
teen years, not finished until the early 20s - Classically known for coordination but recent
findings are seeing it as fundamental to
coordinating thinking processes as well.
15Drug Use Stats
16Drinking Levels among Youth
- The 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (5) found
that among high school students, during the past
month - 1 out of 2 drink some amount of alcohol.
- 1 out of 4 binge drink.
- 1 out of 4 had their first alcoholic drink before
age 13. - 1 out of 10 drove after drinking alcohol.
- 1 out of 3 rode with a driver who had been
drinking alcohol. - Other national surveys
- In 2004, the National Survey on Drug Use and
Health reported that 29 of youth aged 12 to 20
years reported drinking alcohol and 20 reported
binge drinking (6). - Monitoring the Future Survey found that 41 of
8th graders and 75 of 12th have tried alcohol,
and that 17 of 8th graders and 47 of 12th
graders drank during the past month (7).
17Percent of Students Reporting Drug Use, 20012005
2001 2003 2005
Lifetime marijuana 42.4 40.2 38.4
Current marijuana 23.9 22.4 20.2
Lifetime cocaine 9.4 8.7 7.6
Current cocaine 4.2 4.1 3.4
Lifetime inhalant 14.7 12.1 12.4
Current inhalant 4.7 3.9 n/a
Lifetime heroin 3.1 3.3 2.4
Lifetime metham. 9.8 7.6 6.2
Lifetime MDMA n/a 11.1 6.3
Lifetime Steroid 5.0 6.1 4.0
18Juvenile Treatment Admissions, by Primary Drug,
2005
Drug Type Under 15 1517
Alcohol 8.6 7.4
Alcohol w/secondary drug 9.3 12.7
Heroin 0.3 1.0
Other opiates 0.4 1.0
Cocainesmoked 0.5 1.0
Cocaineother route 0.9 2.2
Marijuana 61.2 65.5
Meth./amphetamine 2.5 4.6
Other stimulants 0.3 0.1
Tranquilizers 0.2 0.3
Sedatives 0.2 0.2
Hallucinogens 0.1 0.2
PCP lt0.05 0.1
Inhalants 0.9 0.2
Other/none specified 14.3 3.5
19Effects of Drugs and Alcohol
20Key modulators of an Addiction Trajectory
- Aberrant learning.
- Repeated administration of psychoactive drugs
leads significant changes in the brain at the
molecular, cellular, and circuit organizational
levels. - These changes can perturb the very processes that
support learning, decision making, and emotional
and behavioral control, so that behaviors become
more reflexive and consequently much less
amenable to cognitive interference. - To the extent that some of these changes are long
lasting (months to years) and, in some instances,
perhaps even irreversible, they justify the
characterization of addiction as a chronic
disease of the brain.
21Key modulators of an Addiction Trajectory
- Motivational shift.
- Addiction usually takes hold when vulnerable
individuals repeatedly seek to replicate the
originally pleasurable drug experience. - In such cases, the gradual transition from
recreational use to addiction is accompanied by a
fundamental motivational shift whereby a drug is
no longer taken for pleasure but to satiate
intense craving and to relieve the distress of
not having the drug.
22Role of Dopamine Multifaceted neurotransmitter
- involved in the fine-tuning of motor and
cognitive function, - the modulation of salience attribution and
attention, - and the regulation of reward and motivation,
- is implicated in the reinforcing effects of drugs
and in the plastic changes associated with
addiction. - the firing rate of dopaminergic neurons in
pleasure centers is likely to encode the saliency
of a stimulus, as a function of current
expectations - and to facilitate the consolidation of memory
traces connected to such a stimulus.
23Endocannabinoid System and Addiction
- The EC system is primary site of action for
rewarding and pharmacological responses induced
by cannabinoids (Pot) - This system plays an overall modulatory effect on
reward circuitry - Participates in the rewarding and addictive
properties of all prototypical drugs of abuse.
24Brain SPECTDr. Amen
- http//www.amenclinics.com/bp/spect_rotations/view
image.php?imghealthy_CS.gif
25Chronic Substance Abuse SPECT scan
- http//www.amenclinics.com/bp/spect_rotations/view
image.php?imgda_CS.gif
26Resources
- http//teens.drugabuse.gov/
- http//www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/index
.html ONDCP - http//www.freevibe.com/
27Other Links
- FreevibeA Media Campaign Web site that provides
drug-related information for youth. - InfoFacts High School and Youth Trends This
resource presents data on juvenile drug use,
including trends from 19952005. - Keeping Your Kids Drug Free A How-To Guide for
Parents and Caregivers (PDF)The Guide is a drug
prevention brochure that provides parents and
caregivers with real-life tips on how to keep
kids drug free. - National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign The
Campaign is a multi-dimensional effort designed
to educate and empower youth to reject illicit
drugs. - Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (OJJDP)OJJDP provides national
leadership, coordination, and resources to
prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and
victimization. - What You Need to Know About Drug Testing in
SchoolsThis guide is designed to assist
educators, parents, and community leaders in
determining whether student drug testing is
appropriate for their schools. - Youth and Drugs Publications A listing of youth
drug abuse-related publications from various
sources. - Youth Substance Abuse DataThis SAMHSA site
provides data related to youth substance abuse.
28Challenge of Teens
- We as parents put up with a lot of grief from our
adolescents and the motivations and rewards can
seem inconsequential. What motivates us most may
be gleaned from the Parents Prayer - May you blessed with a child just like you!
- So that they can know the trials and tribulations
and joy they have put you through - Thank you
- Questions
29Biology and Functioning of The Teenage Brain
Implications of Drug Use Municipal Alliance
Presentation4/16/08
- Doug Leonard, D.O.
- Chair of Psychiatry Our Lady of Lourdes
- Assistant Professor of Psychiatry UMDNJ-SOM