Mathew Lennon:  Mental Illness and Addiction Project Review

I reviewed the http://www.mostofus.org/ website and was pleasantly surprised.  My initial reactions were that it was just another one of the hundred thousand “projects” aimed around some sort of youth risk intervention.  The more I explored the site, the more I was interested in the concept and ideas in Most Of Us.  The basic idea is that preconceived notions regarding risky teen behaviors are overblown.  The organization does research to prove how many youth in a certain population are actually smoking cigarettes for instance, compares that with the popular beliefs about how many youth smoke, and then creates an ad campaign to break the belief and instill a belief in the social norm that indeed, most students don’t smoke cigarettes.

The model is intriguing for several reasons.  First, the research and resources around teen psychology and behavior, researching trends, and the marketing campaigns are mostly through higher education research studies and academic and juried journals, so the information is legitimate.  Two, the programs are tailored to specific communities, with research done in that community to make it relevant.  Three, the ad campaigns are unique, attention grabbing, and to the point.  I was gradually impressed by the scope of the programs, but they say up front that it is a long term investment with significant sticker shock.

Substance abuse is often a sign of some form of mental health condition.  This is a very broad answer, because there are a thousand and one types of mental health issues, ranging from minimal daily impact to affects on every action an individual takes.  The concept of “self-medicating” is extremely important for this question, and even more so for adolescents.  Self-medicating can be both conscious and unconscious decisions to use some form of chemical to mediate an internal issue, either mental or physical, though mental issues are sometimes created by physical issues like chemical imbalances in the brain.

It can work the other way as well.  A person could have developed an addiction through experimentation and peer pressure, then created a mental health issue to cover up his or her tracks.  My experience says that this happens, but much more rarely in students than the substance abuse stemming from an underlying condition.

One of the simple reasons that prescription drugs are viewed as safer, both in teens and adults, is that they are issued by a doctor and should therefore be okay because they are mass produced and someone somewhere examined them to make sure they are okay.  For teens, it means they can get them from people they know and think that the drugs won’t contain bad stuff and take them any way they want.  Ironically, I have talked to many kids over the years who won’t buy certain illegal non-prescription drugs from certain people because they don’t trust what’s in the drug and are worried that it is not safe.

Finally I do think that nearly all teens are at risk for substance abuse.  The spectrum of kids in juvenile court and rehab show that anyone from anywhere can have an addiction.  The challenges of adolescents, including the biological, mental, and social developments, often combined with environmental impacts, create an atmosphere conducive to risky behavior.  It may not mean that all kids between 12 and 21 are always at risk.  But there will be certain windows of time or doorways of opportunity for nearly all teen to become addicted or develop an abuse problem.

Substance abuse and addiction are what another one of the 3645 reasons to create a safe, respectful, open classroom.  That will facilitate more meaningful discussions of drug abuse and mental health when the topics arise in class, as they all do at some point or another.  It also opens a different door of opportunity.  It opens the door to a caring adult that a student can go to when he or she needs someone who they trust that they can talk about stuff with.  Then, depending on the issues, you can help direct them to other resources for help.  Sometimes simply letting a student vent about a particularly bad day is enough to elevate their mood, reducing the chance of self-medication after school.

Mental Health Activity:  What are Most of Us Doing?

Grades: 9/10-12

Time Requirements:  Part time over a week.

Objectives:

-Students will be able to define substance abuse.

-Students will be able to define social belief.

-Students will research a use of one particular drug in their school

-Students will create advertisements regarding use statistics in their school.

Framework:  I am going to take this idea straight from Mostofus.org.  Teacher will have a short lesson on the meaning of substance abuse and the risks for teens associate with abuse.  Students will choose small groups (2-4).  Each group will choose a drug or chemical that they think is used by students in their school.  They will create a short survey that they will conduct in 2 classes at each grade level in their school.  The survey will be very simple questions regarding how often the student uses the drug or chemical.  The students must contact each teacher prior to visiting the class and explain the project.

Once they have the completed surveys, they will compile the data and determine if the majority of students are using whatever drug or chemical.  They will then create an ad for their school, either graphic or video, using their data  that promotes a positive social belief against that particular drug abuse.  Each student will write one paragraph explaining their understanding of their research and their contribution to the project.

Assessment: 20% clear and effective surveys, 20% accurate data compilation, 30% accurate info and definitions in ad, 10% powerful impact of ad, 20% individual written paragraphs.