How Substance Abuse Can Affect Teen Mental Health

Learn more about our mental health series here.

For many teens struggling with mental health issues, substance abuse can co-occur.

A national survey of 2022 teens found that those who experienced a major depressive episode were more likely to have used drugs, smoked marijuana, or consumed alcohol excessively.

Adults also use drugs or alcohol to cope with symptoms of mental illness, but what does this mean for adolescents, whose brains are still developing?

Although it is illegal to sell alcohol and cannabis to minors, more and more children are accessing drugs and alcohol through social media. Teens can find drug dealers through apps like Instagram and Snapchat, or even find out which gas stations sell alcohol to underage children.

Children who use alcohol and marijuana “are affected by these substances in a variety of ways, including emotionally,” says Dr. Peter Provet, adolescent psychologist and CEO of Odyssey House , a sobriety and substance abuse treatment center. At New York.

Provet says alcohol and marijuana use impacts a child's emotional well-being, particularly the development of the brain's frontal lobe, which regulates thinking, planning, motivation and control. impulses.

New research is helping scientists better understand how marijuana use during adolescence can trigger mental health problems. A 2023 Columbia University study found that one in ten teenagers used marijuana occasionally. This study also found that adolescents who used marijuana were more likely to develop psychiatric disorders, such as depression and suicidal tendencies, than those who never used marijuana.

4 questions With Dr. Peter Provet

How Does Marijuana Affect Teenage Brains?

“The most important variable here is the level of THC, which is the active chemical in marijuana that gets people high. THC levels in marijuana have increased dramatically over the years, from around 2% in the 1990s to well over 15 or 20% currently. So when kids smoke marijuana today, it's not like your parents' marijuana in the 70s and 60s.

“It's a totally different drug, which increases all kinds of problems in children…social isolation, low motivation, various types of brain impairments like we're talking about in addition to psychosis and, to some extent, of suicide.

“The altered state produced by marijuana is a symptom of an underlying struggle. I don't think you can say that it directly creates social isolation. This creates anhedonia, lack of emotion, etc. Children are vulnerable during adolescence to this type of social phenomena.

How can parents know if their child is suffering from drug or alcohol abuse?

“Marijuana is now considered an addictive substance. The definition of addiction has changed over the years, where it was once defined by dependence and withdrawal, physical symptoms of a substance. Today, the definition is much broader.

“Now we're talking about marijuana addiction. In this case, a child feels the need to consume it daily and this has an impact on their social world. This disrupts their social functioning. And there, we now find the definition of addiction.

“If we suspect or know that a teenager is using, for example, marijuana or alcohol, one of the first things we do is talk to the families who come to see us at Odyssey House. We discuss behavior changes with families.

“[In] During adolescence, we see big changes in the way children function. However, we try to capture significant changes that are more abrupt, such as a child who suddenly loses interest in hobbies, a child who suddenly isolates himself much more, a child who has angry outbursts. Significant changes in behavior can alert the parent to possible drug use.

What advice would you give to parents whose children use drugs or alcohol?

“I'm always trying to help a teenager feel good about themselves. That's the most important thing, trying to help a child feel comfortable in who they are. We know that for adolescents, acceptance in social groups is a key strength and this can lead to drug use when a child becomes involved in the wrong group.

What does recovery look like for a teenager recovering from substance abuse?

“The best treatment and the best recovery is to help the person find a purpose in their life, to help them… to find a reason to move forward in their life. Simply stopping drugs is not the solution.

“Yes, we want to help you stop using substances. However, at the same time, we want to help someone get excited about the positive things in their life, their hobbies, their sports, their academic success, and we help kids try to imagine who they want to become in getting older.