Youth Substance Abuse

Youth Substance Abuse : A Comprehensive Overview and Proposal for National Education Campaign

Introduction

The following document represents a comprehensive overview of one of the main societal problems in America today : youth substance abuse . Drug and substance abuse among teenagers is substantial . Among youth age 12 to 17 , about 1 .1 million meet the diagnostic criteria for dependence on drugs , and about 1 million are treated for alcohol dependency . Because of this epidemic we need to institute a more effective national school campaign along with a national health care campaign that will

promote education , prevention , early detection , and rehabilitation . Youth substance abuse is a major epidemic currently plaguing the youth and needs to be immediately addressed to protect the future generations of our country . Without an immediate proposal to help eliminate substantial increases in substance abuse , we are setting ourselves up for a sharp decline in a solid civic foundation and substantial increases in health care costs

The research divides itself into six sections covering the social factors that may lead to increased substance abuse , the meaning and experience of illness as related to the changing focus to a health belief model for substance abuse , health care systems and funding on a national level that are aimed at promoting education and rehabilitation of behavior and mental understanding , health care providers , providing resources to educate families on youth communication and doctors and nurses on effective mental rehabilitation based on the health belief model , revealing a national education campaign that focuses on physical dangers instead of morality and values violations , and finally educating youth on health literacy through the national education campaigns

In to elaborate on more in-depth discussion of substance abuse first it is important to define our terms . Substance abuse can be defined as an overindulgence in and dependence on a psychoactive leading to effects that are detrimental to the individual 's physical health or mental health , or the welfare of others

In a medical sense , if we are to classify substance abuse as an illness there must be a physiologic dependence on the substance , whereby the person develops a of high amount of tolerance leading to withdrawal symptoms once the substance is removed . Mosby (1998 ) differentiates between abuse and dependence , stating that both are distinct from addiction which involves a compulsion to continue using the substance despite the negative consequences , and may or may not involve chemical dependency ' The textbook definition goes on to state that dependence almost always implies abuse , but abuse frequently occurs without dependence , particularly when an individual first begins to abuse a substance . Dependence involves physiological processes while substance abuse reflects a complex interaction between the individual the abused substance and society

A definition of substance abuse that is frequently cited is that in DSM-IV , the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Diss (DSM ) issued by the American Psychiatric Association The DSM-IV defines the term as

A . A maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress , as...