Drinking, Mental Health, and Violence

We all know that drinking and kids is a bad mix. We all hear about the dangers of binge drinking in the Freshman year of College. Something we may not be as aware that the incidents of mental health issues in kids who drink dramatically increases the more often they drink. Diagnoses like depression,anxiety disorder and even bipolar disorder can be seen at higher rates in kids who drink. The more they drink, the higher the possibility of a diagnosis. Bring suicide into the picture and the rates go up drastically in the kids that drink or smoke pot. Alcohol is a depressant. We know this. We also know that the more we drink the less impulse control we have. Add lowered impulse control to an already impulsive adolescent brain and is it any wonder kids have such a high death rate? Add a motor vehicle in the picture and I truly am surprised there are any teens still alive and well. If you take a look at brain studies done at Washington State University, you can see the long term effects of alcohol use on the brain. What is even more impressive is the effects of alcohol on the body. Did you know that if you blow a .3 on a Breathalyzer at Midnight it takes until 3 pm the next day to blow 0. This is pure math and physiology. Our bodies can only process so much alcohol an hour.. no matter what. This explains why a kid can still be drunk legally long after stopping drinking. This is why so many kids get in fights long after the drinking has stopped. Violence travels right along with booze and kids. Add marijuana and it may also carry absolute paranoia as well due to the effects on the brain and genetics which is too deep a line to follow here. So use of alcohol can predispose a kiddo to a mental health diagnosis later in life and can also heighten the possibility of incarceration based on violence. It takes an instant to pull a trigger and a second to plunge a knife into someone. Alcohol makes it easier to take that step. Any young people reading this post, don't take my word for it, do some research on the net about the effects of alcohol on your body. The world is yours to do with as you please and a bunch of you are looking at environmental history with disgust. Take a look at your own environment, your body and really pay attention to what you expose it to. There are a lot of things you can't control but there are amny more you can. Parents, stop lecturing your kids. They stopped listening to you bitch at them years ago. Just talk with them...listen to what they are telling you and be straight with them. When a kid their age dies or gets admitted for a mental health issue, ask them about it. Let them talk about their views and their fears. They do have them you know.

Does Violence Impact Children

In a recent report released by the National Survey of Children's Exposure to violence, the most comprehensive Nationwide survey of the incidence and prevalence of a child's exposure to violence,the conclusion was stated that 60% of our children are exposed to violence daily. This can be either directly or indirectly. Nearly one half of the children surveyed had been assaulted in the past year, at least once.1 in 6 were victims of sexual victimization. The recent reports of a teen girl who was attacked and gang raped after her homecoming dance while 20 plus witnesses stood by and did nothing, brings up a dramatic question. Why did no one intervene?
Is this the normal our kids expect to see? Children in the US are more likely to be exposed to crime than are adults.Each year millions of children are exposed to violent crimes in their homes, schools, communities as both victims and as witnesses. Children can show remarkable resilience but most often children who are exposed to violence undergo lasting physical, mental and emotional harm. They suffer from difficulties with attachment, regressive behavior, depression and anxiety. They also develope conduct problems. They are more prone to dating violence which we have seen on the rise in San Antonio. The most lasting effect of violence in a child is the effect upon forming lasting relationships through partnering, which will continue the cycle of violence into the next gerentaion.
So what can we do? Violence is all around us, everywhere you look. We are saturated by violence and crime. The key factors are early identification and contiued follow up. Teachers, families, judges, police, pediatricians,mental health workers, CPS workers, domestic violence advocates and others who interact with kids have a responsibility to create interventions that decrease or prevent the harm associated with exposure to violence. These interventions are both physical and mental. These types of interventions rarely take into account the cumulative nature of the effects of violence on the life of a child. This single study focuses on the past year and lifetime exposures to violence across a number of categories to include physical, bullying, sexual victimization, child maltreatment, dating violence, witnessed and indirect victimization. In ages 6-9 sibling assault, bullying, and teasing or assault without a weapon were the most common and declined as the child aged. Older children ages 14-17 were the more likely to be exposed to more serious forms of violence including gang assault, assault with injury, sexual victimisation, and physical and emotional abuse. The most common group experiencing kidnapping with a gun were the 10-13 year old group. Over the next few posts, we will go further into this report and discuss the impact of victimization from infancy through later adolescence. Please come back for the follow ups. The full report can be located here www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ojjdp