Treating substance abuse is difficult whether the patient is young or old. Although one might hope that the shorter period of abuse seen in teens would make the disorder less entrenched, the data shows otherwise: addiction is a stubborn disorder with a long term, relapsing, and remitting course.

What are the latest trends in adolescent substance abuse and how do we find out if a kid has a problem? Yifrah Kaminer keeps us up to date on the most commonly used drugs, hot to screen for them and best treatment practices.

There is evidence suggesting that hoarding may be associated with symptoms of ADHD. But until now there have been few studies examining that relationship in children, despite the fact hoarding symptoms commonly start in childhood.

Could the presence of a stress hormone in an adolescent’s saliva predict a risk for psychosis? Recent research suggests that it can.

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

There was a time not too long ago when young adults who lived at home were seen as somehow developmentally stunted and “failures to launch.” But the Great Recession and changing social norms have diminished much of the negative stigma associated with living with parents into adulthood.

At first glance, treatment of the young adult seems comparatively easy: their metabolisms have slowed to the normal adult pace, most medications are FDA approved, and they (finally) tend to present with symptoms of just one or two diagnoses at a time. However, nature gets in the way, and the normal developmental tasks of transitional age youth (TAY) make the situation much, much harder than merely writing the prescription.

Of 2.4 million students who went to college in 1993, 1.5 million never made it past their first year and 1.1 million never went on to get a degree. Dr. Alvarez discusses how to beat the odds and help kids stay in college; especially those with serious mental illness.

Dr. Davis talks about developing interventions that assist young people with serious mental health conditions to succeed in schooling, training, and their early launch into adult work lives during the transition to adulthood.

It’s been a growing trend for quite some time now for teens to abuse prescription drugs such as pain relievers and stimulants for recreational use.