Adolescents More Likely to Become Addicted and to Need Different Treatments than Adults

New research in human brain development reveals differences between the brains of children, adolescents and adults. Developmental changes in adolescents’ brains may make them more vulnerable to high-risk behaviors, mental illness and addiction, because different parts of the brain mature at different rates.

The research has implications in treatments for teen alcoholism and drug addiction. For example, one study showed that adolescents are more likely to relapse (return to drug use) because their brains maintain drug-related associations much longer than adults. In one animal study at Harvard Medical School, the “teen” animals took 75% more time to give up a cocaine-laden environment than their adult counterparts.

Dr. Heather Brenhouse, the lead researcher in that Harvard study and others, found that teens will resume drug use more quickly than adults, even after they take just a small “reminder” dose of cocaine.

“Drug exposure produces stronger memories for drug-paired cues and contexts than in adults,” Dr. Brenhouse said. “Adolescents appear to hold stronger memories for rewarding events, which may make extinction treatment more difficult and relapse more probable. Therefore, they will require different addiction treatment strategies from adults.”

A spate of new research reports that the effect of marijuana on mental health depends upon when the person starts using it. The younger the person starts, the more likely the person is to become addicted and experience changes in brain function. No one is certain of whether the long-term effects of marijuana use are worse for adolescents or adults.

Dr. Gerry Jager at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands studied two groups of boys, ages 10 to 18 years old. One group used marijuana, the other did not. He had them perform mental tests while he and his colleagues used mental resonance imaging (MRIs) to observe the boys’ brains during the tests. The boys took tests regularly over a two-year period, and the marijuana users were asked not to use their chemical during the week before a test.

The non-users and users performed equally well on the tests. However, the users’ brains had to work much harder during the tests. The parts of the brain affected by the cannabis were the frontal and temporal lobes, which are involved in memory and learning.

Jessica Cohen of University of California in Los Angeles studies why adolescents engage in riskier behaviors than adults and children. Again using MRIs, she and her colleagues observed children and teens as they played video games. Cohen found that teenagers’ brains are more sensitive to rewards, especially immediate rewards.

“Armed with the knowledge that adolescents are more sensitive to rewards, yet realizing that their neural regions involved in self-control are not fully developed may help clinicians understand why adolescents engage in potentially detrimental yet appealing risky behavior, such as substance abuse, and how better to teach and encourage more adaptive behavior,” Cohen wrote.

In the past, scientists believed that the human brain was fully developed by age 14 years or so. The new research indicates that brain development and connectivity are not finished until the early twenties.

Material for this article was culled from a report in ScienceDaily, dated November 7, 2007, and posted at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071107210133.htm

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