Drugs, Alcohol, Depression and Teen Sexual Activity

For females, even modest involvement in substance use and sexual experimentation elevates depression risk

Published on October 3, 2005 By Sid_Gibson In Health & Medicine

Chicken and Egg--Depression and Alcohol Abuse

Do people become depressed because they drink or are they already depressed and drink to self medicate. Research shows a strong relationship between alcoholism and depression. Yet experts continue to debate on which came first. Additional research also suggest a similar relationship between anxiety disorder and alcohol abuse. The first signs of these compounded conditions often begin during adolescence.

I have personal experience (victim) in clinical depression, alcohol abuse and depression. I've been able to control each of these disorders by abstinence from alcohol, proper medication, proper nutrition and exercise. I can attest to using alcohol for medicinal purposes--when feeling anxious, alcohol was my tranquilizer. When I drank too much, I became depressed and then drank more to get further depressed. Yes, more to make it worse so that I could feel the full impact of self-pity and a case of the "poor me's". As I look back at my youth, I am certain today, more than 50 years later, that I suffered from anxiety disorder beginning at age 5 and it was definitely a precursor to my alcoholism, which started by binge drinking in early adolescence.

Such was the case I presented in the above post, originally published on June 6, 2005. The following counterpoint uses drugs rather than alcohol--It's the SAME thing. Source: Join Together News Summaries

"Teens who use drugs or are sexually active are more likely to become clinically depressed later on, according to a report from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE).

Fox News reported Sept. 20 that the study seems to contradict the notion that depressed teens use drugs or engage in sex to self-medicate their depression. "Findings from the study show depression came after substance and sexual activity, not the other way around," said PIRE researcher Denise Dion Hallfors.

Hallfors and colleagues looked at data from surveys of 13,000 teens who were interviewed in 1995 and again in 1996. They found that among girls, both drug use and sex were predictors of future depression -- raising their risk two- or threefold -- but for boys, only frequent marijuana use and high-risk behavior like binge drinking appeared to raise the risk of depression.

"For females, even modest involvement in substance use and sexual experimentation elevates depression risk," the study noted. "In contrast, boys show little added risk with experimental behavior, but binge drinking and frequent use of marijuana contribute substantial risk."The research was published in the October 2005 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine."

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