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The problems of adolescence are much different than the problems of adulthood, and when teenagers turn to alcohol to cope with those pressures,
sadly the effects of alcohol abuse can be much more severe than maybe it would be if they were grown adults.
Here to explain more is Ed O'Reilly, Program Director of the Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic in Dublin.
Ed, it's nice to have you here.
Nice to be here again.
In a topic of so much concern to so many parents, teenage drinking.
Unfortunately, we call it binge drinking.
Before we even discuss binge drinking, what is that explanation? What does binge drinking mean as opposed to teenage experimental drinking?
Binge drinking is basically defined as consuming multiple drinks in one sitting.
It varies a little bit based upon age, body weight, whether you're a man or a woman.
If for example, a young man consumed 3 to 4 drinks in one sitting that would be considered binge drinking.
Got it.
That's a federal statistic that they came up with. It's a rather precise amount so that they can track it and compare it across states and things like that.
It actually has a rather specific connotation, but the old fashioned connotation still holds weight, which to my mind always was
if you sit down and drink a lot.
Right. Call it binge drinking. Call it whatever you want. You're getting wasted.
Right. Exactly.
These kids are doing it, and they don't know how to drink or how to handle it.
Their bodies are still growing.
Yes. The main issue is that the prefrontal cortex, which is the fancy way of saying the control part of the brain, still is developing.
The impulsive part is well developed at an early age. Most people recognize that that's part of the issue with teenagers, adolescents
They are pretty good at being impulsive- less well developed at controlling things.
It's a particularly difficult combination with alcohol because alcohol tends to inhibit the controlling part of the brain anyway.
We have a bad combination here, which is a tendency on the part of young people to be impulsive in the first place.
and then it's exacerbated if they consume alcohol.
That makes a lot of sense, and they lose their perception of all sorts of things.
Yes, they do, and there are recent statistics for example that show that among alcohol related fatalities in underage drinkers
only 30 percent are due to dying in automobile accidents.
70 percent are due to what you might call misadventure, which is getting in bad situations and doing stupid things because you're drunk.
So they're not getting behind the wheel. That message is there. It's those other decisions that they're making that are not behind the wheel that are still affecting them.
Yes, although not to be minimized, there is still the 30 percent, which is obviously not good.
The surprising statistic is if as parents we tend to focus over don't drink and drive, which is a valid message, then they're much more likely to get in fights
jump off hotel balconies into pools.
What about parent's rules in this? They say, "If you drink in my home, I'm watching them and that's the way to handle alcohol." You don't like that idea.
It has a superficial attraction.
The problem is research shows that kids who are introduced to alcohol by their parents are more likely to drink more heavily later on.
It's another one of those, "Well I don't know. That doesn't fit my common sense idea."
What happens is in the long run it does not work out.
Because it's almost like they've been given permission to have alcohol.
It is like that.
Energy drinks and alcohol. Kids think this is the biggest buzz because they get buzzed, and that's dangerous.
It is. Unfortunately, what happens when you combine, in essence, stimulants, which is the energy drinks and alcohol,
you're still as drunk but because you have some stimulants on board, you don't get as sleepy and tired and lethargic.
You're less likely to pass out, but you can still black out.
When people black out, not the same thing as passing out, what happens is, you're still up and moving around and seem reasonably alert, but you don't remember anything.
Wow. Because this is all so scary, Ed, I know that there are ways that you can help, and you're a resource for parents. They should give you a call and
even talk to you about, "Does my son or daughter have a problem?"
Absolutely, there's no problem whatsoever in calling up our center, and people can be available to discuss the situation
I will say there are some very useful online resources as well.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving have a little pamphlet that you can download as a PDF file, which gives very good, practical advice
for having a conversation with your kids.
We have that information on our website, and we also have your information there so that people will have it as a resource.
We thank you so much for all this advice.