“Meanwhile, pathways associated with other interesting stimuli are left idle and lose strength. The pre frontal cortex, the pat of the brain associated with judgment and inhibitory control, also stops functioning normally.” (Phillip, pg. 165)

Life is a perpetual series of experiences, feelings, smells, sights and sounds that produces the widest range of emotions. There are highs and lows, up and downs. Some weeks I’m on top of the world and sometimes, well, I’m not on top of the world. All of the feelings that we experience are what makes us human.

Reading chapter nine of Phillips, titled “This is your brain on…: Understanding and Curbing Substance Abuse” was eye opening in terms of explaining how drugs can effect the development of the adolescent brain. It makes sense that altering the development of the brain, which includes the structure and functioning, at such a young age can have devastating and long lasting effects. When I read the quote that I cited above, I took in a deep breath, held it for a long minute while my mind raced about my future students who engage in substance abuse and how it physically alters their brains and dampens their reactions to other stimuli. Thinking of substance abuse from this perspective made my mind wander to the troubled youth who is exploring their own identity and navigating the perils of social acceptance and rejection and all the while feeling all the feelings that accompany those experiences. How tragic to not be able to recognize all those highs and lows and still survive because substance abuse altered their brains.