Alcohol and the Teenage Brain

I don’t drink much alcohol anymore – and haven’t for many years.  In November, however, a close friend of mine introduced me to some blueberry wine which I absolutely fell for.  Just prior to the holiday season, I purchased the only two bottles of the wine a local liquor store had left.   I shared it with family and friends over the holidays and they fell for it, too.  Just today, I discovered that the store has finally restocked the wine, and there are 18 bottles waiting for me! (Well, I think I’ll just buy a couple…that should do me for at least a few weeks at the rate I imbibe.)

Anyhow, I have a very soon-to-be 17-year-old son.  When I talk to him about drinking alcohol, I tell him:

-     to always keep his long term life goals in mind;

-     that for the academic and professional career he intends to pursue, he requires all of his brain power;

-     that even mild to moderate drinking weakens connections between neurons, adversely affects cognitive processing, and negatively interferes with the ongoing development of his teenage brain and that excessive drinking destroys white matter* in the brain which may or may not be able to re-grow;

-     that he must stay in control of any open beverage at all times – even if it’s just soda -  we know what strangers can do, but friends can add things to drinks as a joke while underestimating the negative consequences that may result;

-     to never accept a drive home from someone who has been drinking (and to never drive after drinking);

-     that if he wishes not to drink, to stand firm and not let anyone persuade him otherwise through ridicule, jest, or dare; and

-     that even a couple of drinks can impair his judgment, reduce his impulse control, and lower his inhibitions so that he may do something he later regrets;

-    that I’m always just a phone call away, no matter the time of day or night and to never worry about ‘bothering’ me.

I expect him to drink alcohol at some point - he hasn’t reached that point yet.

I also tell him that I used to drink and party a lot during high school and throughout university and that in my early twenties, an attractive, seemingly nice, young man put a drug in the one and only beer I was drinking – which he brought over to me from the bar shortly after my arrival at a party at a fitness club - and I completely blacked out as a result.  (To make a long story short, another person intervened and I was saved from further harm.  Up to that point, the early eighties, I hadn’t even heard of any of the ‘date-rape’ drugs.)

I know that when discussing things with a teenager, I may be up against a formidable opponent, namely, the immaturity of the teenage brain.  The immature brain (it matures at around age 25) has a frontal lobe which is not yet fully wired.  Logical consequences of actions cannot always be seen by teens and young adults due to fact that the brain is still a work in progress.  Teens and young adults also tend to have lower impulse control for the same reason. Combine this with alcohol and impulse control may go completely out the window.  Alcohol affects GABA, dopamine, glutamate, and raises endorphin levels**.  The pleasant sensations produced by drinking cause a person to desire more drink in order to maintain the pleasant, relaxed, open

feeling.  Speaking and actions become less inhibited.  Individuals unwind and let’s face it, drinking can be loads of fun – a way to blow off steam after times of intense work or study.

We have less control over the emotional centres of our brain when we drink and our feelings may become more intense.  We may become more expressive with our feelings, our desires.  We are more likely to say or do something that we normally wouldn’t had we not been drinking.  (I also can’t write this without thinking of the inevitability of one teenage girl or another crying in the washroom at every high school dance I attended as the drama and intensity of teenage dating unfolded.)     

Friends may become more influential than parents, especially during the second-half of the teenage years. 

According to Robert Aitken of the Centre for Instructional Development, Vancouver Community College, the younger a person is when he or she starts to drink, the more likely he or she will become an alcoholic.  Forty percent of drinkers who started prior to age 15 became alcoholics compared with only ten percent of those who began drinking in their early twenties.

You may have heard many reports in the news last year about binge drinking on university campuses in the United States and Canada.  Bouts of excessive drinking cause damage to the brain – neurological damage and memory loss.  Some of this damage can repair itself, but some can become permanent.  Excessive drinking can lead to alcohol poisoning, too, which can result in death.  Young binge drinkers appear to be more susceptible to damage in the hippocampi (one hippocampus is located on each side of the head and is where learning and long-term memory functions occur).  The more young people drink and the longer they drink, the smaller the hippocampi.   The prefrontal cortex – the anterior or front portion of the frontal lobe, behind the forehead - where the chief decision-making centre is located along with the voice of reason, moral decision-making powers, and control also sustains damage.

Which of the neurotransmitters and regions of the brain are affected the most when an individual drinks varies depending on the genetic makeup of the person, the source of the alcohol ingested (for example, red wine may make an individual sleepy whereas beer may stimulate him), and the pre-existing mood and energy level of the person.

*White matter is the portion of the brain which contains the nerve fibres.  These areas appear white due to the fact that the fibres are insulated by a protective substance called myelin – which is white.

**GABA stands for gamma-Aminobutyric acid and is actually an amino acid.  It acts as the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in our nervous system whereby it helps induce relaxation and sleep.  Dopamine is a excitatory neurotransmitter which  is increased by the ingestion of alcohol.  An increased level of dopamine leads to feelings of excitement and stimulation.  Alcohol interferes with the brain’s uptake of glutamate – an amino acid.  This causes relaxation of muscles, slurred speech, slower reaction times, lack of physical coordination, and memory decline.  Alcohol raises the level of available endorphins – our body’s own natural painkiller - as well as giving us a natural ‘high’ (like after strenuous, sustained exercise).  The more you drink over time, the more alcohol it will likely take to achieve this endorphin high.


D.

The Pain of Ostracism

Another use for Tylenol?  Seems there is.  I can already picture the new television ads:  a teenager comes home from school after suffering some sort of social rejection, Mom or Dad provides a hug, perhaps a glass of milk, and a couple of Tylenol…

According to two 2010 studies by University of Kentucky psychologist C. Nathan DeWall, painkillers can reduce the sting of social rejection just as they do physical pain.  It appears that physical pain and social rejection share neural pathways in the brain.  “Being ignored and left out activates the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, a region linked with the emotional aspects of physical agony, and the insula, an area instrumental in judging pain severity.  Taking a painkiller (here it was acetaminophen) squelches both neural responses to ostracism”* (being ignored and excluded – social rejection). 

Individual differences in how tough or sensitive we are have little influence on the initial intensity of the pain from ostracism, though it can be a factor in how we cope with the pain and in how quickly we bounce back from it.

“No matter how people are left out, their response is swift and powerful, inducing a social agony that the brain registers as physical pain.  Even brief episodes involving strangers or people we dislike activate pain centers, incite sadness and anger, increase stress, lower self-esteem and rob us of a sense of control.”**

*Scientific American Mind (January/February 2011), “The Pain of Exclusion”, Kipling D. Williams, p. 35.

**Scientific American Mind (January/February 2011), “The Pain of Exclusion”, Kipling D. Williams, p. 32.

D.

Shameful

A significant person in my life once said to my son, “shame on you”.  Well, to say the least, I was upset.  My response to this person was, “how dare you shame him!”  There is absolutely nothing positive in shame.  Nothing.  Shame is not a productive emotion, cognition, feeling, or burden – whatever you want to call it – to carry with you in life.

Shame is a pervasive state of feeling about oneself as opposed to a feeling about an act one has done.  Shame focuses directly on the self.  To contrast, guilt focuses directly on the act which was done, or not done.  Shame can also arise from an act, but it is when the act becomes inextricably linked with the self, that damage occurs.  Carrying around shame damages a person’s self-worth and self-esteem and ultimately makes him feel inadequate - not good enough - not acceptable as a human being.  Self-contempt (self-loathing) can result and that is hardly an attitude that promotes optimal physical or psychological health.

Shame need not be inflicted by another’s judgment of you, but rather may be the judging of yourself based on personal standards you perceive as correct or desirable.  What these standards are, though, may have been drilled into your head early in life through what others said to you, how others expected you to act, what others wanted you to be like, or by a barrage of media images.  So, you came up with a set of standards for yourself based on others’ expectations.  These standards then became inextricably linked with your self-concept as they became determinants of who you should be, and how you should be.

And, to go a little further, some people are actually ashamed of being ashamed.  They don’t admit they feel shame because they are ashamed that they feel shame.

A time may very well come in your life when you believe that others will not accept you because, in your opinion, you are inadequate.  You may not have started out life feeling like that – I can bet that you didn’t - but over time, influences may have caused you to embrace shame. You have a notion of who you’re supposed to be and of who others expect you to be, and if you are not actually that way in reality, you can end up being pretty hard on yourself.   

I likely should end this column by suggesting you embrace your imperfections, practice self-acceptance, practice compassion towards yourself and others, show others some of your vulnerabilities and perceived flaws, and radiate self-acceptance, warts and all.   

Instead, I am going to end by mentioning something I saw the other night.  It was the acclaimed, recently released movie, “Barney’s Version”.  Well, I have to say, I absolutely fell in love with the character, Barney.  No, Barney wasn’t what I would consider a strong man, an exceptionally smart man, a handsome man, an especially accomplished man, but there was something that was so loveable about how real, how authentic the character was - not as a character, but as a human.  I think he was just Barney - flaws, vulnerabilities, warts and all.

D.

Let There Be Light

I was listening to a radio program on CBC Radio One a couple of years ago.  A doctor was talking about navigating through the rainy and cloudy days of the city where I live.  He said something which has stuck with me ever since.  He stressed the importance of getting some outside time, during daylight hours, even on the most dreary of days in order to stay as upbeat as possible.  He went on to say that even on a cloudy day there is more natural light outside than inside one's home.  Then, last evening (when I should have been sleeping) I was reading an article from "Scientific American Mind" (June/July 2007 issue) which included a discussion of the sleep disruptions observed in persons suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and came across some numbers which shed a bit more light (no pun intended ) on the matter.  According to the article, the average living room has 50 lux* of light.  In comparison, dull winter daylight reaches about 5,000 lux per day.  What a huge difference, even when simply dealing with averages.  

(*one lux equals one lumen per square metre.)

D.

Afar and Anxious

Contrary to popular belief, distance likely does not make the heart grow fonder.  In fact, studies have recently been completed that reveal that geographical distance between adult romantic partners likely stresses the heart.  And, not in a good way – not like the stress of a good workout. 

After much anecdotal evidence showed that long-term separation from a romantic partner can lead to increased anxiety and depression as well as sleep disturbances, a physiological study on male prairie voles was carried out.  All it took was a four-day separation before the voles exhibited signs of anxiety and depression.  They also showed increased levels of corticosterone (like the human stress hormone, cortisol).  Separation from siblings did not have the same effect.  It appears that the effects of mate separation resemble the physiological effects of drug withdrawal:  irritability, sleep disturbances, increased cortisol levels.   

Some adults suffer acutely when separated from spouses or romantic partners and don’t require a four-day separation to start feeling depressed, anxious, or both.  Adult Separation Anxiety Disorder is very real and estimates are that it affects about 15 to 20 percent of the population.  It usually onsets during the early years of adulthood and normally arises from unresolved separation anxiety or trauma-induced separation anxiety during the very early years of childhood.  For most young sufferers, this anxiety disappears during the middle to later childhood and the teenage years, never to return.  For some though, it can rear its ugly head again in the twenties or thirties as overwhelming feelings of dread and panic overtake when separation – even for a relatively short time – occurs.  Without treatment, it can become a life-long condition. 

D.

To Trust or Not to Trust

Perhaps the hair on the back of your neck stands straight up, perhaps a chill runs down your spine, or a knot forms in the pit of your stomach when someone says to you:  “Trust me!”

There is a subtle, yet powerful difference between the phrases, “Trust me” and “You can trust me”.  Can you perceive the difference?  The key is the intuitive feeling invoked when this statement is spoken to you.  When someone says to you, “trust me”, they are actually implicating, or calling into question, your character as they place the onus directly on you. YOU MUST trust and if you don’t then YOU are lacking, or there is something wrong with YOU.  It is akin to them ‘guilting’ you into trusting them, and if you choose not to trust them, the implication is that it reflects poorly on you rather than on them.  Having the onus placed squarely upon you, however, can make you feel uncomfortable rather than trusting.

On the other hand, if a person says, “You can trust me”, the onus shifts from you to them.  The person is saying to you, not that YOU must show good character and trust THEM, but that they, themselves, are trustworthy.   

See the difference?  It is subtle yet very real.  “You can trust me”, speaks to THEIR character rather than to yours.  It implies that they are trustworthy and you are reassured rather than made to feel uncomfortable, perhaps even defensive.  You are not put on the spot.  It doesn’t make you squirm.  “You can trust me” is all about the person making the statement rather than about the person receiving the statement.  It calms and reassures in advertisements and it does the same in our day to day interactions with other people.

Now, having written all that, if a person has a bad track record in the trust department, it may very well be that, no matter what he or she says to you, your gut reaction may be quite the opposite of a trusting one.

D.