Happy “Kick Butts” Day!

Sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Kick Butts Day (March 23, 2011)  is a national day of action designed to empower youth to speak up and take action against Big Tobacco, encourage people to quit smoking, and raise awareness about the available quitting resources in the county. In Santa Clara County, the Public Health […]

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New Study on Teen Drinking: “Many Kids Who Drink Get Liquor From Home”

Many Kids Who Drink Get Liquor From Home: Report “Some 709,000 youngsters aged 12 to 14 in the United States are drinking beer, liquor and other alcoholic beverages, a new federal study found.  And the surprise is that many of these underage drinkers aren’t just getting a friend to buy a six pack for them […]

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New Research Study on Teens, Peer Pressure and Risk Taking

New York Times: Teenagers, Friends and Bad Decisions “In studies at Temple University, psychologists used functional magnetic resonance imaging scans on 40 teenagers and adults to determine if there are differences in brain activity when adolescents are alone versus with their friends. The findings suggest that teenage peer pressure has a distinct effect on brain […]

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Teen Substance Abuse Update: Bath Salts and Prescription Drug Use

Addictions & Answers: Prescription pills in the medicine cabinet could become kids’ new drug problem “Following marijuana, abuse of prescription drugs now ranks second as the most prevalent illegal drug problem in the US today. People like Lina have led the National Family Partnership®(NFP) to launch “Lock Your Meds”-  http://www.lockyourmeds.org/ – a national multimedia effort to reduce […]

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Mental Health Alert: “Emotional Health at a 25-Year Low” for College Freshmen

Freshmen Report: Students are Stressed and Depressed “The survey, “The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010,” was conducted by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute and included 200,000 students. The number of freshmen who said their emotional health was “below average” has risen steadily, according to the report. Only 52 percent rated themselves as “above average” in emotional […]

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The Latest in Teen Mental Health and Substance Abuse (Part 4): Adolescents and Depression

THE LATEST (Part 4): Adolescents and Depression Resource: Teen Depression, A Guide for Parents and Teenagers Click on any of the following links to jump to a specific spot in this Help Guide Article: Understanding teen depression Signs and symptoms Effects of teen depression Suicide warning signs in teenagers Helping a depressed teenager Risks of […]

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Latest Trends in Teen Mental Health and Substance Abuse (Part 3): Academic Stress

THE LATEST (Part 3): Adolescents and Stress/Academic Stress Students Who Write About Anxieties Do Better on Tests, Study Says Psychologists at the University of Chicago have discovered a quick and easy way for stressed-out students to avoid choking on a high-stakes test: Take a few minutes right before the exam to write about all those […]

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The Latest Trends in Teen Mental Health and Substance Abuse (Part 2): Eating Disorders

THE LATEST (Part 2): Adolescents and Eating Disorders Expert Sees Growing Problem of Eating Youngsters with Eating Disorders “With so much attention focused on rising rates of obesity among children and teens, it can be easy to overlook kids who eat too little or purge after they binge. But government data suggest that eating disorders are actually on […]

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The Latest Trends in Teen Mental Health and Substance Abuse (Part 1): Drugs and Alcohol

Adolescent Counseling Services, a Bay Area non-profit devoted to the emotional and social well-being of youth, would like to welcome you to a four part series connecting you with the very latest in the world of teen mental health and substance abuse.  We will be providing links to both informative articles as well as educational […]

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Tuesday, December 7, 2010: Recent Teen Mental Health and Substance Abuse News

Teens who hit siblings more likely to hit their dates “There’s an intriguing and troubling study out today by the Boston University School of Public Health that found adolescents who have used physical violence, such as hitting or punching, against a sibling or peer in the past month are more likely to engage in physical […]

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