Selfishness and drugs are all too often associated with teenagers, but is there more to that connection than you might think? Developmental psychologist Dr. Maria Pagano PHD says there is. In a new study for The Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, Pagano researched young addicts’ lack of social awareness for other people. Her study, which surveyed nearly 600 high school students, sought the correlation between teenage addicts and their tendency to drive inebriated or risk exposure to STD’s by having unprotected sex.
Her results revealed that young addicts exhibited almost no concern for the health and safety of others. The subjects were ostensibly unaware of the consequences their high-risk behaviors could have on other people. But in her findings, she recorded a 50% drop in arrests and relapses for those who volunteered their time and efforts to others.
Teenager + Addict = Oy
According to a six-year study reported on by the Wall Street Journal, teens don’t usually develop the cranial capacity to fully empathize with other people until the age of 18 since the prefrontal cortex, which manages the brain’s guilt and empathy, isn’t fully developed. And though we don’t need people in lab coats to tell us that teens are apathetic egotists, it helps to know there’s scientific reasoning behind it.
Addiction, of course, only takes this self-interest a step further.
Now, we’ve known that addiction is a notoriously selfish disorder since long before Nancy Reagan’s merry band of winners told us to just say no. But what exactly is it that makes addicts selfish? I know that when I was getting high, I used people without ever thinking about their health or safety. It’s not that I hated people or wanted to hurt anyone; I just had a messed up hierarchy of needs. It was:
- Drugs
- Everything Else
Now that I’m sober, however, I feel guilty whenever I want to tell even the tiniest lie. In 2012, after I smashed my car into oncoming traffic, I was sent to rehab for a year in lieu of jail time. It was at that facility that I finally realized that not only was I doing a fantastic job of shortening my life span; I was also a danger to the world at large. I became disgusted with my selfishness, and finally decided to change. At the direction of my sponsor, I dedicated a lot of my time to helping others, and it has proven more than fruitful. In my experience, the more I do for others, and the less I worry about myself, the better I feel. Even something simple, like staying after a meeting to talk to a newcomer when I’d rather be at home getting bit by my cat, has a surprisingly rejuvenating effect on me.
Can Service Really Save Lives?
Studies like these matter because our country is one of many that’s clenched in the death grip an addiction epidemic. In Baltimore, a city of less than 700,000 people, there are about 60,000 heroin addicts, according to a recent report by the Department of Health. Last time I checked, opiates alone are killing 78 people per day, and putting another 1,000 in the hospital. To me, these are very clear indicators of a major problem, but what can we do about it?
There Is A Solution
As these astounding statistics pile up, researchers like Pagano compile data, looking for an answer. People at any AA meeting will tell you that success in sobriety is contingent on helping others: the 12th and final step is dedicated entirely to being of service to other alcoholics, and the Big Book attests to the importance this selfless work as well.
“Just don’t drink no matter what,” isn’t quite enough to keep some sober. Some of us need more community, and more service. Treating people as more than a means to an end, and instead as an end in themselves, can be a help in keeping those self-sabotaging thoughts at bay. Twelve-step programs might not be for everybody, and not everyone who’s driven drunk or had unprotected sex is an alcoholic, but if helping out other people can get you out of your own mess, then maybe it’s time to get to work.
Then again, if you still think it’s cool to drink 13 Michelob Ultras and run over mailboxes in your mom’s minivan, you might not be ready.
Sponsored DISCLAIMER: This is a paid advertisement for California Behavioral Health, LLC, a CA licensed substance abuse treatment provider and not a service provided by The Fix. Calls to this number are answered by CBH, free and without obligation to the consumer. No one who answers the call receives a fee based upon the consumer’s choice to enter treatment. For additional info on other treatment providers and options visit www.samhsa.gov.
