Week 12: Personality Disorders

A personality disorder is a type of mental disorder in which you have a rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning and behaving. A person with a personality disorder has trouble perceiving and relating to situations and to people. This causes significant problems and limitations in relationships, social encounters, work and school.

Personality disorders usually begin in the teenage years or early adulthood. There are many types of personality disorders. Some types may become less obvious throughout middle age.

Cluster A personality disorders are characterized by odd, eccentric thinking or behavior. They include paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder and schizotypal personality disorder.

Cluster B personality disorders are characterized by dramatic, overly emotional or unpredictable thinking or behavior. They include antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder. It's not necessary to exhibit all the signs and symptoms listed for a disorder to be diagnosed.

 Cluster C personality disorders are characterized by anxious, fearful thinking or behavior. They include avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. It's not necessary to exhibit all the signs and symptoms listed for a disorder to be diagnosed.

Personality is the combination of thoughts, emotions and behaviors that makes you unique. It's the way you view, understand and relate to the outside world, as well as how you see yourself. Personality forms during childhood, shaped through an interaction of two factors:

•   Your genes. Certain personality traits may be passed on to you by your parents through inherited genes. These traits are sometimes called your temperament.

•   Your environment. This involves the surroundings you grew up in, events that occurred, and relationships with family members and others

Personality disorders are thought to be caused by a combination of these genetic and environmental influences. Your genes may make you vulnerable to developing a personality disorder, and a life situation may trigger the actual development.

Week 11: Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior.

Contrary to popular belief, schizophrenia isn't a split personality or multiple personality. The word "schizophrenia" does mean, "split mind," but it refers to a disruption of the usual balance of emotions and thinking.

In men, schizophrenia symptoms typically start in the early to mid-20s. In women, symptoms typically begin in the late 20s.

Symptoms:

·      Delusions

·      Hallucinations

·      Disorganized Speech/thinking

·      Extremely disorganized or abnormal motor behavior

·      Negative symptoms - This refers to reduced ability or lack of ability to function normally.

Schizophrenia symptoms in teenagers are similar to those in adults, but the condition may be more difficult to recognize in this age group. This may be in part because some of the early symptoms of schizophrenia in teenagers are common for typical development during teen years, such as:

•   Withdrawal from friends and family

•   A drop in performance at school

•   Trouble sleeping

•   Irritability or depressed mood

•   Lack of motivation

Compared with schizophrenia symptoms in adults, teens may be:

•   Less likely to have delusions

•   More likely to have visual hallucinations

Although the precise cause of schizophrenia isn't known, certain factors seem to increase the risk of developing or triggering schizophrenia, including:

•   Having a family history of schizophrenia

•   Exposure to viruses, toxins or malnutrition while in the womb, particularly in the first and second trimesters

•   Increased immune system activation, such as from inflammation or autoimmune diseases

•   Older age of the father

Taking mind-altering (psychoactive or psychotropic) drugs during teen years and young adulthood

Week 10: Alcohol Dependence

Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States. Many adolescents are experiencing the consequences of drinking too much, at too early an age. As a result, underage drinking is a leading public health problem in this country.

Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking; this includes about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drownings (1–5).

Yet drinking continues to be widespread among adolescents, as shown by nationwide surveys as well as studies in smaller populations. According to data from the 2005 Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, an annual survey of U.S. youth, three-fourths of 12th graders, more than two-thirds of 10th graders, and about two in every five 8th graders have consumed alcohol.

Whatever it is that leads adolescents to begin drinking, once they start they face a number of potential health risks. Although the severe health problems associated with harmful alcohol use are not as common in adolescents as they are in adults, studies show that young people who drink heavily may put themselves at risk for a range of potential health problems.

Brain Effects - Scientists currently are examining just how alcohol affects the developing brain. Subtle changes in the brain may be difficult to detect but still have a significant impact on long-term thinking and memory skills. Add to this the fact that adolescent brains are still maturing, and the study of alcohol’s effects becomes even more complex. Research has shown that animals fed alcohol during this critical developmental stage continue to show long-lasting impairment from alcohol as they age. It’s simply not known how alcohol will affect the long-term memory and learning skills of people who began drinking heavily as adolescents

Liver Effects - Elevated liver enzymes, indicating some degree of liver damage, have been found in some adolescents who drink alcohol. Young drinkers who are overweight or obese showed elevated liver enzymes even with only moderate levels of drinking.

Growth and Endocrine Effects - Puberty is a period associated with marked hormonal changes, including increases in the sex hormones, estrogen and testosterone. These hormones, in turn, increase production of other hormones and growth factors, which are vital for normal organ development. Drinking alcohol during this period of rapid growth and development (i.e., prior to or during puberty) may upset the critical hormonal balance necessary for normal development of organs, muscles, and bones. Studies in animals also show that consuming alcohol during puberty adversely affects the maturation of the reproductive system.

Facts:

•   Excessive drinking is responsible for more than 4,300 deaths among underage youth each year, and cost the U.S. $24 billion in economic costs in 2010.

•   Although drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal, people aged 12 to 20 years drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States.4 More than 90% of this alcohol is consumed in the form of binge drinks.

•   On average, underage drinkers consume more drinks per drinking occasion than adult drinkers.

•   In 2010, there were approximately 189,000 emergency rooms visits by persons under age 21 for injuries and other conditions linked to alcohol

Week 9: Substance Use

Issue of Teen Nicotine Use

One of the drugs that are most likely to induce chemical dependence in teens is also one of the most accessible: nicotine. Nicotine use is also often a prelude to the abuse of harder drugs, like alcohol or cocaine.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) notes that a high percentage of teenage smokers also abuse alcohol. In fact, the NIAAA reports that in one study, 80 percent of teens that smoked while they were going through alcohol treatment were still using nicotine four years after they completed rehab.

Among recovering alcoholics, nicotine abuse is seen as a lesser threat, a relatively harmless habit in comparison to alcohol addiction. In reality, tobacco-related illnesses are a leading cause of death among alcoholics going through treatment.

What Makes Nicotine So Dangerous?

One of the greatest dangers of nicotine is its addictive power. In the 1990s, scientists discovered similarities in the way rats’ brains responded to nicotine and cocaine. A study that appeared in Science in 1997 showed that both drugs activate many of the same regions of the brain, inducing the same compulsive behaviors in lab animals.

For teenagers, experimentation can quickly lead to dependence when it comes to nicotine. The British Medical Journal notes that children and teens become tolerant to the effects of nicotine more quickly than adults and that they don’t need to smoke every day in order to become addicted.

Although daily smokers are more likely to experience withdrawal symptoms when they try to give up tobacco, occasional smokers can also experience withdrawal symptoms such as:

•    Severe cravings

•    Anxiety

•    Irritability

•    Headaches

•    Depression

•    Changes in appetite 

Difficulty Concentrating

Prevalence of the Problem

The American Cancer Society (ACS) states that almost 4,000 young people under the age of 18 try smoking for the first time each day.

About one-third of children and teens who smoke will die before their time of cancer, emphysema or another condition related to smoking.

Fortunately, public education and negative social attitudes toward smoking have had a positive effect on young people. The popularity of smoking has declined since the 1990s, and fewer adolescents than ever are picking up cigarettes.

Marijuana is the most common illicit drug used in the United States by teens as well as adults. The growing belief by young people that marijuana is a safe drug may be the result of recent public discussions about medical marijuana and the public debate over the drug’s legal status

·      Some teens believe marijuana cannot be harmful because it is “natural.” But not all natural plants are good for you—take tobacco, for example.

These functions are the ones most affected by marijuana:

·      Learning and memory

·      Coordination

·      Judgment

Effects on health:

•       Increased heart rate

•       Respiratory (lung and breathing) problems

•       Increased risk for mental health problems

•       Increased risk of problems for an unborn baby