Salpointe Catholic High School Community of Concern

1. Salpointe Catholic High SchoolCommunity of Concern What’s Brain Got To Do With It ? Kevin Leehey M.D.Child, Adolescent, and Adult PsychiatryBoard Certified leeheymd.com 296-4280

2. 2016 Trends • Motor Vehicle Crash deaths up 10% 2015. Phones (calls, texts, etc), cheap gas (drive more + faster), impaired, bicycles, pedestrians. Teen MVC deaths are down net 60% since 1975 • Suicide rates are up 20% in the last 10 yrs. #2 cause of death age 15-34. Most suicides and homicides use firearms; plus gun accidents too. • All drugs OD deaths total 41,000; prescription meds 25k (18k opiods+7k benzos), 16k illegal (11k heroin, 5k cocaine); but heroin is up most • Legal drugs are as dangerous as illegal drugs

3. 2016 Trends • Youth : #1 alcohol, #2 marijuana, #3 tobacco, #4 “pills”= Adderall (stimulants), opiates, benzos, Ambien, DXM, Soma • Spice, K-2 = synthetic cannabanoids; “bath salts”; synthetic “Research Chemicals” (legal) hallucinogens; • A negative drug screen does not mean they’re not using

4. What’s Happening in High School? • Youth drink to get “buzzed”, drunk; binge = 5 for M, 4 for F in 2 hrs • Binge on as much as possible as fast as possible. Drinking games. • > 60% teens will try other drugs by end of HS. • > 60% HS seniors have had intercourse. • > 50% HS seniors drink regularly. • 33% HS seniors use other drugs including “pills”. • 25% HS seniors smoke marijuana. Often, the more MJ used, the more others drugs are used. • 20% HS seniors smoke cigarettes.

5. Perception of Marijuana Marijuana use is level or increasing.

6. The left side of the brain is shown. Source: Shaywitz – Overcoming Dyslexia

7. Brain development proceeds from the back and base of the brain toward the front and top. The Cerebellum governs coordination of movement and develops early. This is one reason teens are often driven to be active, to take their new bodies out for a test drive.

8. The Amygdala is part of the Limbic system and is located in the Temporal Lobe next to the Hippocampus close to our ears. It promotes emotions, fear, risk taking, lability, and volatility. The Amygdala is partly developed in teens and not yet balanced by the Frontal Cortex.

9. The Nucleus Accumbens is a collection of neurons within the Striatum that play a major role in reward, pleasure, addiction, and motivation. Its only partially developed status in teens contributes to why teens often prefer high reward, stimulating, thrilling, lower effort activities (eg. video games). It is also not yet balanced by the Frontal Lobe.

10. The Pre-frontal cortex is the last area to reach adult maturity. It is our reasoning center which we use to ride herd on our impulses and emotions via “Stop and Think”. The cortex is the main part of the brain that humanizes us.

12. Normal Sleep Architecture REM is most important. Optimal sleep promotes attention, memory, creativity, decision making, judgment, impulse control, memory ST and LT, social skills, and lessens irritability. Getting 8 hours of sleep lessens substance use, promotes healthier weight, overall and heart health, and mental health.

13. The Teen Brain • The Teen brain is wired for seeking sensation, novelty, new experience, excitement, thrills, and risk. • “Teens take more risk not because they don’t understand the dangers but because they weigh risk vs. reward differently; …if risk can get them the reward they want, they value reward more heavily than adults do.” • And especially in the company of peers. (“peer pressure”)

14. The Teen Brain • Teens simply don’t think it will happen to them. • Peak risk taking is 12-18, highest around age 17. • Peak substance use is around age 18. • The part of the brain that makes teens responsible is still under construction. • The teen brain is more vulnerable to the stimulating, damaging, and addicting effects of nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs.

15. The Teen Brain • One in three teens who start smoking as a teen will die of a tobacco related disease. • 90% of adult smokers and substance users began as teens. • Almost half of kids who start drinking alcohol by 13 will become alcoholic, while only 10% of those who wait till 21 will. • Substance use in youth thus becomes hard wired in as a tendency for life. This is in addition to any genetic predisposition.

16. Healthy subject watching video of using Substance abuser in remission watching video of using

17. Thus you must parent • You are the most powerful and important environmental (“nurture”) force. • Parenting is “hands on” thru 11-13, “hands around” thru 17-19, “hands under” thru 18-25, then “hands off”. • Parenting is the building of character, instilling values and self discipline, and teaching independent living skills. This develops and changes the brain’s structure.

18. Parenting Tips • Cell phones make “flash” parties possible. • Call other parents. • If you’re the host check what’s up. • Have your teen wake you up when they come home. Talk to them, get close. • Teens know homes where parents allow or give your kids alcohol, “weed”, other drugs, and/or sex.

19. Parenting Tips • Monitor phones and social media. > 33% of teens “sext”. Instagram, SnapChat, Twitter etc are bigger than Facebook. • YOU are your child’s + teen’s #1 influence ! • If they see you drunk/impaired/partying they are 33% more likely to drink or use.

20. Parenting Tips • If you say, imply, or even think it’s OK or inevitable that they’ll drink or use, then they are 10X more likely to do so. • If you repeatedly (not nag) tell them not to, then they are 10X less likely to drink or use. • Say “No”, Don’t try to be the “Cool” parents, and don’t try to be your kids’ “Best Friends”!

21. Please Remember:Bad things can happen to “Good” kids • People don’t say, “I think I’ll get a DUI and ruin lots of lives today.” • No one says or thinks, “Gee, today I’m gonna drink, smoke, or use a drug so I can become an alcoholic or addict.”

22. Teen Driving –True or False • Car crashes kill more teens than homicide, suicide, AIDS, cancer, + all diseases together • The #1 reason teens get into car crashes is speeding. • Teens are less likely to crash at night because there’s less people on the road. • It’s best for teens to drive the old clunker. • A teen who knows better will not get into a car with a drunk or drugged driver.

23. Parenting Teens 101 – True or False ? • Texting while driving is safer than calling. • There’s nothing a parent can do about texting and calling in school or sleep hours. • Asking my teen about suicide will put the idea in their head • Adult supervised teen drinking results in less teen alcohol use problems. • > 50% teens go thru adolescence with hardly a ripple.

24. Parenting Teens 101 – True or False ? • What I say as a parent matters more than what I do • “Nothing good ever happens after midnight” • Sleepovers and campouts are fine for teens. • It’s not worth upsetting my teen or troubling her friends’ parents to ask if _____ is really happening and supervised. • I only have to worry about illegal drugs. • Teens mainly get drugs from dealers.

25. Parenting Teens 101 – True or False ? • Don’t be silly, a phone is not a computer. • I don’t need to know how to supervise or check their phone, computer, gaming consoles, or handhelds. • If I had a 24 hour phone, iPod, computer, TV, and Xbox in my room as a teen I’d never come out either. • My teen is responsible. We can leave her home when we go away and we can rent him a hotel room after formal or prom or whenever they want. • Adults should not hold teens accountable because their brains are not fully developed.

26. More Useful Information • drugfree.org “Six Componets of Effective Parenting” and “A Parent’s Guide to the Teen Brain” • The Whole Brain Child by Daniel Siegel MD and Tina Payne Bryson PhD • The Social Animal by David Brooks • Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy  by Michael Bradley Ed.D. • Parenting With Love and Logic  by  Foster Cline M.D. and Jim Fay (Get the Teen version) Thank you and Good Luck ! Kevin Leehey MD leeheymd.com 296-4280