Ridgewood, New Jersey

Managing America’s Mood

A new study looked at the online habits of American teenagers and revealed a stunning amount of candid conversation about drug and alcohol use. The researchers looked at 10 million online messages over the past year and a full two hundred thousand talked about drugs or alcohol use.

Many of the messages shared “helpful” information about various drugs, focusing on avoiding getting caught or hurt. According to the report, “some teens debated drug legalization and the drinking age. Other teens recounted their partying experiences, including sexual liaisons while drunk or high.” The teens worked to disguise their messages about drug use to keep their parents in the dark.

It all makes us wonder why we continue to be plagued by the scourge of drug use. When I was training as a therapist and specializing in addictions I recall my training supervisor telling us, “we use a simple and direct definition of an addiction. It is an impulse to change your mood.” I marveled at the simplicity and power of the definition. Immediately it occurred to me that this could describe an infinitely wide variety of activities - both healthy and maladaptive. I watch television to change my mood. I change my mood when I play golf or go to a social gathering.

Now obviously there appears a clear divide between constructive and destructive habits. Yet the line gets a bit fuzzy when considering use of television and the Internet. And what about work addiction? In fact, anything that consumes our time to the detriment of important personal and social responsibilities is an unhealthy approach to mood management.

 

And back to the issue of the teenagers and their online references to drugs and alcohol, what is really new here?

At a time when Americans are experiencing staggering levels of stress most of us are using some artificial strategy for coping. Some are using prescribed medications, others illicit drugs and the rest various other forms of distraction. But again, distraction from what? It seems to be the pressures of modern life that somehow overwhelm us.

In light of the staggering suffering of people with real problems, our impulse to escape and manage our mood is pretty embarrassing.

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