Teenage substance abuse and self-harm can be difficult and sensitive topics to bring up and openly discuss. Teenagers engaging in this behaviour often feel shame or fear, making them less likely to be open about what is happening to them until their behaviour or addiction starts to have serious or even life-threatening consequences. Many parents might feel like their child’s addiction is their fault and that they’re squarely to blame, pushing them to look for quick fixes out of desperation and not wanting others to know of their failures.
The reality is that addiction, dependency, and self-harming behaviour of any kind and at any age are incredibly complex phenomena. Feelings of guilt, shame, fear, and many other negative emotional connotations we create in dealing with it only serve to delay getting teenagers the help they need in their time of crisis. If we as a society are ever to make definitive and measurable progress in reducing teenage addiction and substance abuse, we need a clear picture of the causes and an openness and willingness to talk about it freely. With this openness in place, we believe that more teenagers and parents will seek the help they need before their addiction causes crisis.
When it comes to the causes of addiction in teenagers, it is important to realise that it’s usually the result of a number of factors. As convenient as it would be, simply pointing the finger at a single factor in an individual case of teenage addiction would be a gross oversimplification and likely result in ineffective or short-lived treatment. That being said, an understanding of the causes and the ability to connect them to specific cases through experience and professional training can help addiction professionals identify why someone might become a victim of addiction and help develop effective and long-term strategies to deal with it.
Substance addiction and self-harming behaviour in adolescents are often –but definitely not always– the result of the interplay between a range of closely-interlinked factors, such as:
- Peer pressure: The pressure to fit in with your friends is never as high as it is in your teenage years. This pressure to be accepted by others your age can cause otherwise healthy, sensible, and forward-thinking adolescents to take risks they normally wouldn’t. especially in social situations where substance use or risk-taking behaviour is normalised or encouraged.
- Social media pressure: Social media often glamourises or normalises drug use in specific environments or social settings. It’s not uncommon to see drug-related insignia or design motifs related to events that teenagers would go to. While it’s easy to downplay the effect this has, over time it paints the picture that drug use is harmless or acceptable at certain types of events or environments. In other words, social media often misrepresents the potential risks and consequences of substance abuse.
- Dysfunctional family dynamics: This broad term covers a range of destructive behaviours or environments that a teenager might be subjected to at home, from witnessing domestic violence, dealing with a parent who has addiction issues themselves, to feeling neglected by parents who are trying to make ends meet. These cases can be difficult to deal with, as they usually involve serious commitments from the parents to help create a more nurturing environment, and often incorporates family therapy into the teen’s treatment.
- Academic failure or pressure: The pressures of performing well at school can easily drive a young person to experiment with drugs or alcohol to find some relief. This is especially prevalent in cases where they have undiagnosed or misunderstood learning disabilities. Students who consistently feel like their best academic efforts aren’t good enough might feel a loss of self-worth or like they’re a disappointment to themselves or their parents, leading to despair and self-destructive behaviour.
Again, it’s important not to simply pick the closest match as a reason for addiction. These factors and many others, like stress, trauma, undiagnosed depression, genetic predispositions, bullying, curiosity and more, are very closely interlinked, and it’s almost always a combination of them that turn a first-time user into someone who becomes dependent on substances to cope.