Psychological Effects of Teenage Drug Abuse

Drug abuse, while not quite as destructive as full-blown drug addiction, has serious effects on the teenage brain. A teenager who is abusing drugs is taking them illegally, whether because the drug itself is illegal or because he is using legal drugs in an illegal way. Drug addiction begins as drug abuse and it can cause many of the same behavioral and psychological troubles that addiction causes.

Risk Taking

• Teens who are abusing drugs may get into trouble with the law.

  One of the most recognizable psychological effects of drug abuse on teenagers is an increased willingness to take risks, particularly in order to use drugs or while using drugs. Teens who are abusing may drive while high, engage in dangerous sexual behaviors, or steal drugs or the money to get drugs. They also are likely to take more minor risks that may have been out of character for them before they began using drugs, such as disrespecting authority, cutting classes or conducting themselves inappropriately in public.

Relationships

• Teens abusing drugs may withdraw from family and friends.

  Teens who are abusing drugs are not in full control of themselves and do not have an objective understanding of what is happening around them. This can lead to conflict in their relationships with their parents, significant others and friends. They may suddenly abandon their old friends and form new friendships, or withdraw from social contact entirely. Increased secrecy and demands for privacy may also be signs of drug abuse, but they could equally easily be normal teenage behavior; parents of secretive teens should not be worried unless this behavior is accompanied by other psychological warning signs.

Moods

• Drugs act on the teenage brain to cause dramatic mood swings.

  Because of the way drugs act on the brain, teenagers who are abusing drugs may have mood swings or exhibit behaviors that would have been unusual for them before the drug abuse began. They may seem unreasonably anxious, uncharacteristically sullen, unpredictably angry, or simply lethargic and uninterested. They also may swing the other direction and be unaccountably giddy or hyperenergetic. The psychological effects of drug abuse can trigger any or all of these emotions and a teenager who is using drugs may swing unpredictably from one state to another.

Shame

• Many teens with drug abuse problems are fully aware of the damage they are doing to themselves and to their relationships, but are unable to stop. They may feel embarrassed or ashamed of their drug use. That sense of shame can lead to more secretive behavior, withdrawal from friends and family, a loss of self-confidence, a lack of interest in things they previously enjoyed, depression and self-loathing. Because of the state of development of the teenage brain and the trust that is placed on late adolescents to be self-sufficient, teens may believe that they should be able to break a drug habit on their own and their inability to do so may crush their self-confidence.