Alcohol and teenagers
The reasons for teenagers’ drinking are subdivided into two groups. In the basis of reasons for the first group lies a desire to follow traditions, to have new feelings, curiosity and so on. Some features of teenagers’ mentality promote formation of these reasons. They are maturing and wish to be like other people, a wish to follow grown-ups’ behaviour and so on.
The second group of reasons for drinking which form drinking as a style of a law-breaker’s behaviour deserves a special attention. These reasons include urge to avoid boredom, a special psychical state of a person related to emotional hunger. Teenagers of this category have a weakened interest in cognitive activity or have lost it at all. These kids are less interested in fiction, they rarely participate in amateur performances, they do not even go to the theatre, loose interest in classic music, painting. Finally, some teenagers drink in order to remove stress, to avoid unpleasant feelings. The anxiety may arise in connection with certain status in the family, at school.
Alcoholic intoxication results in considerable physiological changes which induce changes in mentality. Alcohol drinking affects especially ruinously operation of the cardiovasculary system, it shows itself in paleness of skin- acrocyanosis, tachicardia and muffled sounds of the heart. The characteristic manifestation of alcoholic intoxication is frequent vomiting. Even the single take-in of strong drinks in small doses is followed with exposed manifestation of intoxication (especially of the nervous system) in teenagers. The nature of alcohol affect on teenager’s psychics can be described less explicitly. In total, the clinic pattern of expressed teenager’s drunkenness in most cases looks like the following – short-time excitation changes for general depression, then oneiroidness, increasing somnolence, sluggishness, slow confused speech, loss of orientation. In case of aggravation of alcoholization a process of degradation of personality takes place.
This category of patients, as not any other, needs support of the family and help by skilled specialists.
