Teenagers, Youths & Drugs in Brisbane

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Today drugs are becoming more of an issue for teenagers in schools.  Some studies suggest that 1 in 4 youths in high schools in Australia will have consumed drugs recreationally.  This is an alarming statistic and drug use has dramatically increased in the last 20 years.  The old adage that drugs is bad for you doesn’t work for teenagers any more.  They are choosing to question conventional wisdom and experiment with drugs.  Seeing a psychologist in Brisbane can be advantageous for them because they are not seen an authority figure.  Instead teenagers see psychologists as an unbiased 3rd party who they can talk to about their problems.  As a result, psychologists are in a really good place to provide them with really good information about drugs that their friends at school won’t tell them about.  They will explain the common drug “weed” link with serious mental health conditions later in life or its link to the consumption of stronger drugs such as Ice.  They will also help them to understand why they are choosing to use drugs in the first place.  Often it is to fit in or to confront feelings of worthlessness, low self-esteem, anxiety and depression.  And ultimately they will give them alternative tools to deal with their mental health problems in Brisbane.

Teenage Mental Health in Brisbane

The biggest problem for teenagers or youths in Brisbane is their thoughts and emotions.  Mostly they don’t know how to handle them.  Psychological therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can provide the answer.  Both therapies really encourage you not to get caught up in your mental health phenomena but to actually critically think about what you are going to do when you are feeling low, without reverting to drugs or technology as a way of avoiding the problem.  These are skills that everyone needs to be taught and are lifelong skills.  Unfortunately they are not really taught anywhere for teenagers.  And if successfully applied can dramatically change the course of their life and how they handle high school.