The first study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York found that you more than double your risk of an automobile accident if you use marijuana before driving a car. Professor Guohua Li and his colleagues went through information from nine previous studies in six different countries that tracked both marijuana and motor vehicle accidents. Some of the people in the study had used marijuana within an hour before driving, and others within a year or more. The study found that marijuana use affected driving skills for up to three to four hours, and the risk of a crash was 2.7 times higher among marijuana users then non-users.

Writing in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews, Dr. Li emphasized that the risk of an automobile crash in terms of marijuana use was related to the dose, the frequency of use, the strength of the drug, and how it was taken. Marijuana may interfere with muscular coordination and reaction times, he speculated.

Some critics say that the study does not actually prove that marijuana increases the risk of an automobile crash by two or three times.

"Most of these studies point to a very strong bad effect of marijuana and driving, but there are studies out there that actually go the other way," said Chuck Farmer, director of statistics at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The second study, this time from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, found that smoking marijuana increases the risk of depression in young people who have genetic predispositions to that mental disorder. The research team analyzed data collected over five years from 428 families with two teenagers each, and found a strong association between marijuana use and increased depressive symptoms among those with the genetic predisposition. The Dutch researchers concluded that the teenagers were not using marijuana as a form of self medication, but that marijuana itself increased depressive symptoms in young people with that specific genotype.

"The effect is robust. It still remains, even if you take into account a series of other variables that cause the effect, such as smoking, alcohol use, upbringing, personality, and socio-economic status," the research team wrote in the journal Addiction Biology.

Sixteen states have legalized marijuana for medical uses only, although these new state policies are in conflict with a federal law that classifies marijuana as illegal to use for any reason.

Happiness a Weapon in the War on Drugs

New research shows that there may be practical reasons to seek out not only future happiness for children, but to take steps to ensure happiness while children are still at home. A study by researchers at UC Davis provides evidence for happiness as a deterrent for crime and drug use.

The research, presented August 22 at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, shows that happy adolescents report less involvement in crime and drug use than other youth surveyed. The report, titled "Get Happy! Positive Emotion, Depression and Juvenile Crime" is co-authored by Bill McCarthy, a sociology professor at UC Davis, and Teresa Casey, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis.

The researchers discovered that the emphasis placed on happiness by psychologists may have more widespread value than originally thought. There may be helpful strategies developed for the purpose of increasing childhood and adolescent happiness in order to deter nonviolent crime and drug use.

The researchers gathered data from nearly 15,000 seventh- to ninth-grade students from the 1995 and 1996 federally funded National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The survey is the largest and most comprehensive survey of adolescents ever conducted.

Studying the Effects of Happiness

The data revealed that approximately 29 percent of surveyed youth had committed at least one criminal offense, while 18 percent had tried at least one illegal drug. To understand how this correlates with happiness, the researchers then analyzed the respondents’ self-assessments of emotional well-being.

The authors of the study believe that their approach is unique because the effects of happiness are rarely studied, especially as they relate to juvenile crime. Most research has focused on the negative aspect of causes of behavior, such as how negative emotions like anger or rage lead to illegal behaviors.

McCarthy and Casey believe that their study’s findings support the role of positive emotions in choices about illegal behaviors. The authors argue that the benefits of happiness, such as a positive self-image and social bonds with others, can encourage healthy decision-making reinforced by positive emotions.

The results of their analysis show that happier adolescents were less likely to report a previous crime or drug use. Adolescents with a history of minor depression were significantly more likely to have engaged in crime or drug use.

Known as CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy represents a class of therapies for treating addictions and mental disorders, with each technique focused on the outcome of changing a person’s thoughts toward a behavior. When a shift in thought toward the addiction occurs, it creates a change in feelings and attitudes, regardless of outside forces the person cannot control.

Robert Hahn, Ph.D., summarized the successes of CBT with adolescents in a report published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. Hahn, representing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that not only does CBT show positive results for adolescents with trauma-induced mental disorders, but the therapy may also lessen the chances that a teen will participate in harmful behaviors later in life.

CBT is based on a set of defining principles: first, a person’s thinking leads to their actions and feelings, not outside elements. A person can choose to change their thoughts toward addiction independent of other factors. A second principle of CBT is that therapists guide the patient toward articulating their thoughts, feelings and goals toward recovery – thus creating a team approach that is unique for the individual. Third, the therapy is educational-based, meaning the client is taught new ways to cope and react to stressors that trigger problematic responses.

For parents, CBT is different than traditional methods of learning. Instead of the standard rule-oriented environment and consequences for bad choices, CBT takes into consideration that teens with personality and behavioral problems may have a distorted perception of acceptable actions. If the teen shows inappropriately aggressive behaviors, CBT can include teaching positive statements that encourage the teen that they have the tools to solve a problem. The therapy can also encourage a teen to ask themselves about all their options in a stressful situation.

For optimum success, a teen must be at a level of cognitive development in which they can analyze a situation and accept self-instruction. A 2006 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 11 studies using CBT with children and teens, all showed positive changes toward depression, the extent to which teens externalized or internalized situations, anxiety levels and stress disorders.

Additional researchers, including Mark Reinecke and peers at Northwestern University, have also praised CBT for treating teens with anxiety problems and depression. The therapy is also used in the Friends Program, a series of workshops for parents, teachers and therapists held across the globe for treating anxiety among young people.

Professor Paula Barrett, University of Queensland, a key researcher into the field of CBT for children and adolescents and Friends Program practitioner, describes CBT as establishing a sense of “emotional resilience” that helps teens recover from anxiety disorders or stress-induced problems and lays a foundation for preventing problems like depression when they become adults.

As further studies continue to show the promise of CBT in working with teens with psychological problems, the therapy may remain a preventative measure for helping teens avoid drug and alcohol addictions and lifelong depression.
 

A recent Science Daily release examined a research abstract that suggests excessive daytime sleepiness presents a higher risk for depression among high school seniors. Results from this research suggest that high school seniors are three times more likely to experience strong symptoms of depression if they also have excessive daytime sleepiness.

Of the 136 study participants, 52 percent experienced excessive daytime sleepiness and 30 percent had strong symptoms of depression. Another 32 percent had some symptoms of depression. These findings suggest treatment needs to focus on depression among these students, as well as potential sleep disorders.

Sleep deprivation was another common factor among high school seniors. In fact, students in the study reported a mean total school night sleep of 6.1 hours. On the weekend that mean increased to 8.2 hours. Such times are considered too low as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests that these students need a little more than nine hours every night to be sufficiently alert during the day.

Studying this impact at the high school level is important. One lead researcher noted that a number of students are performing at sub-optimal levels as far as academic performance is concerned. Depression and sleep deprivation can also affect concentration and memory. Sleep problems and depression could be carrying over past high school, contributing to the decline of U.S. competitiveness in the global market.

A recent news post highlighted the launch of the KidsMatter early childhood program at Monmia Primary School. The focus of this new program was a shock to Jeff Kennet, chairman of the depression awareness group Beyondblue.

“I can’t express the shock I got when at a board meeting of Beyondblue … our officers said ‘we’re now going to start doing some science among children aged one to seven years of age’,” Mr. Kennett said, in the Australian News. The chairman now admits the program will result in internationally groundbreaking work.

The $18.7 million in federal funding was announced by Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon. She referred to this program as the government’s efforts to look at the health system at the start instead of at the end.

“What we can do earlier in the system so that instead of picking up the pieces when things get really bad, we’re giving young children and others the tools to manage their lives into the future,” said Roxon.

The KidsMatter program will put mental health in the weekly school curriculum, train teachers and inform parents on how to help children learn to deal with setbacks, talk about them with their children and develop resilience in order to keep depression at bay.

According to Roxon, the program will not focus any of its efforts on screening children for depression or to determine the number of children involved in the program who might have depression-type problems.

If successful, this program could lay the groundwork for similar programs throughout the world.

A recent release in Science Daily examines this study, which was completed by researchers from the Université de Montréal, Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and McGill University.

According to findings from this study, insecure adolescents experience more intense pain in the form of frequent headaches, abdominal pain and joint pain. Such teens are also more likely to be depressed than peers with secure attachments.

“Although previous studies in adults found that an individual’s security level was influenced by painful experiences, it was not clear why relationship security should be related to pain,” says Dr. Isabelle Tremblay, a researcher at the Université de Montréal and its affiliated Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center.

“We found that adolescents with insecure relationships tend to be more ‘alarmist’ about their pain symptoms; they have a tendency to amplify the degree of threat or severity of their pain. This amplification leads to more intense pain and more severe depressive symptoms.”

Researchers believe it is possible that individuals who have insecure relationships may perceive the world as more threatening or even more stressful. This view manifests itself into physical symptoms. At the same time, individuals who feel insecure may also express more intense distress in an effort to elicit support from their peers.

It is important to note that adolescents have different health and mental needs than adults and interpersonal factors can have a significant impact in the treatment of pain and depression for adolescents. While treatment does not currently visit such factors, a change could improve the overall outcome of the adolescent patient.

“There is evidence in adults that abnormal regulation of cortisol plays a role in both obesity and depression,” said the study’s lead author, Panagiota Pervanidou, MD, of Athens University Medical School in Athens, Greece, in the Science Daily. “Our study indicates that cortisol abnormalities may underlie obesity and depression starting in childhood.”

A steroid hormone, cortisol helps the body to respond better to stress. It also serves other functions, such as converting fat, protein and carbohydrates into energy. Typically, the levels of this hormone peak early in the morning and start to drop in late morning. By night, this hormone is at its lowest level.

The difference in depressed adults is slightly elevated cortisol levels at night, which contributes to development of the metabolic syndrome. This includes abdominal obesity and other risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Researchers conducting this study found that cortisol levels in the saliva of participants in the afternoon and evening correlated positively with symptoms of depression. It was determined that the more depressive symptoms the subjects reported, the higher the cortisol levels at those times.

According to these findings, obesity and depression may not only be related to behavior, but may also have a hormonal link. As obesity and depression often occur at the same time, prevention and screening should focus on both disorders and should start in childhood to prevent bigger problems and greater obesity later on.

“We recommend that obese children be screened for depression and anxiety, especially female adolescents, who have the highest risk,” Pervanidou added. “In addition, children with a diagnosis of depression should be evaluated for disordered eating, because these patients frequently develop obesity or anorexia.”

News of a new report from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force argues that teenagers should be routinely screened by doctors for depression. This group argued that all children aged 12 to 18 should answer questions to determine potential risk for depression and suicidal tendencies.

Much of the movement in this area is in support of the theory that the mental and emotional health of children is often ignored, or does not receive as much attention as necessary to maintain good health. As many as 10 percent of children have emotional disorders; demonstrating that there is a need for attention in this area.

According to psychotherapist and author, Terry Diebold, it is common for preteen and teen depression to remain undiagnosed for a number of reasons, including the tremendous number of physical and emotional changes that accompany teen development. Undiagnosed depression can prove to be dangerous for a teen or preteen in the face of a tragic event.

Diebold points to a number of challenges with this issue, including these key facts:

• Parents tend to be in denial regarding their own kids and therefore often miss warning signals

• Preteens and teens are often reluctant to discuss their emotions and associated problems with their parents

• Teen behavior can easily be dismissed as hormonal when it could be more serious

• Medication often won’t work alone, creating a demand for counseling.

In reviewing this ongoing problem, Diebold argues that testing ensures that parents get involved. She believes that family counseling is the most effective treatment for preteens and teens dealing with issues of depression and related conditions.