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By Agamjot Aulakh
When they suffer from an injury, illness or even a minor surgery, many teenagers are often prescribed opioids to manage pain. However, too many teens use of opioids to navigate daily life.
Frequently unseen, mental health difficulties including anxiety, depression, and distress all play big factors in reasons on why this reliance expands.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics shared that teenagers enter a “critical development period” and exposure to opioids might cause an inclination to abuse them later in life. According to the report, an adolescent’s brain is in a growing period and they are still developing in regions regarding decision making and urgency management. This can be greatly affected when they are introduced to opioids at a young age, making them more likely to latch onto them as adults.
Being prescribed opioids is not something rare amid teenagers. A large-scale research found in JAMA Network Open has indicated that millions of teenagers have been exposed to opioids in the use of painkillers no less than once, and the misuse often starts when opioids are prescribed. Research has stated that “medical exposure to prescription opioids may be an important pathway to later misuse among adolescents”.
Mental health ties into this greatly. Young people feel numerous pressures – hoping to make their family proud, academic success, social expectations – while trying to navigate the stigma regarding mental illness. When all of these underlying struggles are not seen, a medicine which is supposed to be short term such as opioids can become a need.
Another study published in the National Institutes of Health explained teens often lean toward opioids “not only to relieve physical pain, but to also cope with stress or emotional discomfort.” Research emphasizes using opioids to cope can draw away from safer alternatives, such as communication, therapy, and counseling.
Being able to obtain opioids also plays as a component. As found in the JAMA Network Open, experts have noticed this misuse of opioids often comes from family members, especially medication that is set aside at home. A study has stated that “unused prescription opioids in the household remain a primary source of nonmedical use among adolescents”.
To break this cycle, professionals in the healthcare sector should shift how the pain is managed – even if opioids should be prescribed or not. Oftentimes medications such as Tylenol, ibuprofen, benadryl, and other over-the-counter medications assist in relieving pain without having the same consequences. If opioids are truly needed, their side effects should be explained in depth and doses should be minimal.
Support in mental health is also a key role in safeguard. If opioids are the best option in prescription, many other steps should be followed regarding mental well-being such as free therapy and counseling sessions to assist in the emotional soreness without just being dependent on the medication.
Furthermore, families also factor into this concept. Adults should also be offered these same options and should be explained the risk of having opioids if they have children at home.
Any unused medication should be discarded immediately in appropriate containers to make it less accessible to children. In some instances, hospital observation periods could also be lengthened after the surgery, so the medication does not have to enter the household at all.
The gap between mental health and prescription misuse needs to be bridged before healing. Prioritizing mental well being, healthier options, and responsibility, families and healthcare workers can come together to lower the dangers. Noticing the emotional requirements as well as the physical necessities is the key toward preventing misuse.
This article was written as part of a program to educate youth and others about Alameda County’s opioid crisis, prevention and treatment options. The program is funded by the Alameda County Behavioral Health and the grant is administered by Three Valleys Community Foundation.
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