Here's a scenario that played out one evening in our house: We were called by the police to come pick up our 17 year old son for causing a drunken disturbance at a grocery store the very night after he had been released from two months in juvenile detention. After picking our stomachs off the floor, my husband and I drove out to meet with the officers. When we arrived, my son was still yelling his head off at the policemen. When we attempted to rationally voice our none too few problems and frustrations with his current behavior choice he began to scream and curse at us, making an even better impression on the police officers. He continued to loudly proclaim his innocence and everyone's total lack of understanding all the while smelling like a cheap beer hall bathroom floor until he passed out at home.
Did this show an extreme lack of judgement on his part? Decidedly. Did this show an increased lack of cognitive skill? Obviously. Had he been impulsive in his decision to go out and tie one on? Certainly. Was he able to resist the imagined pleasure of drunkeness? Obviously not. These were the effects of alcohol/drug abuse on my son's brain.
We lived in fear of evenings like this for 4 years. We felt that we could not leave our home unattended. The constant interplay with the troubled teen was taking valuable quality time from our younger teen. We never knew when the next violent erruption would start or what would be the cause. In short, for 4 years we felt as if we were tight rope walking across the Grand Canyon without a net, safety lines or know-how.
In an article on Parenting Today's Teen, http://www.parentingteens.com/askwilkie1... Wilkie Wilson,PhD explains that the development of the brain's frontal lobes is not completed until around the age of 21. This is the part of the brain which controls impulse behaviors, planning and execution, socialization factors, etc. These are precisely the areas of the brain which are targeted by drugs and alcohol. What do you think is going to happen if you take a substance which reduces function to these already reduced function areas of the brain? Very likely you will see any number of the symptoms I stated at the beginning of this article. Undoubtably you will see these effects grow worse with time unless you take tough measures to stop the abuse.
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