Teen brain, brain injury, and addiction

These days, when there are news reports about traumatic brain injury (TBI), it’s almost always related to football. And while one of the effects of TBI is an increased risk of using drugs and alcohol (especially for teens), this post isn’t really about that (but this post is).

This post is about the turf TBIs and drugs share—the developing teen brain. healing-art-brain

The Developing Teen Brain—What Makes It Special Puts You at Risk

We’ve talked a lot about why drug use is so dangerous in your teen years—that it raises your risk for being addicted. (Here’s a great explanation.) The teen brain is still developing—growing. This makes it more flexible, more impressionable; so what you do now has a big impact on who you become as an adult. Like clay being molded before it hardens, like a computer being programmed, you are wiring your brain.

About RichardB

I am trained and work as a Creative Arts Therapist specializing in group therapy. I have passionately studied, worked, and taught as a hands-on practitioner of the Creative/Expressive and Healing Arts since 1983 integrating various modalities working in a variety of clinical and non-clinical settings. I currently provide Creative Arts and Counseling services to nonprofit agencies as well as occasionally teaching classes and workshops in communities of faith. I use compassion and acceptance to create an environment that is safe and nurturing for all individuals and groups. In my spare time I engage in research and write articles on a variety of subjects, create: poems, music, abstract artwork, and photograph nature.

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