Psychoactive Drugs of Abuse and Differential Diagnostic Considerations in Adolescents

This 3-hour training is presented from the specialized perspective of providing clinical services to youth with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.

This training presents and describes, briefly, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic aspects of the nine specific classes of drugs identified in the DSM-5 and also presents several examples of psychoactive substances that may be more common to youth experimentation included in the tenth class of ‘other’. Potential cognitive and behavioral impacts of use of each substance is discussed from an adolescent-developmental perspective. These latter considerations, then, are plat formed to frame initial considerations about symptom crossover in differential diagnostic understanding.

Objectives: 

1. Describe current research regarding youth with co-occurring disorders and list factors that differentiate youth from adults.
2. Describe how physical, social and personality developmental factors during adolescents can be dramatically impacted by substance use/abuse (and vise-versa).
3. Describe Screening and Assessment from an integrated perspective
4. List at least three each: Screening and Assessment tools designed for an adolescent population; consider an integrated approach.

CEUs: This Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) sponsored training has been approved for 3 CPEs credit by the Ohio Counselor, Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapist Board.  It has also been approved for 3.00 CEUs by the Ohio Chemical Dependency Professionals Board in the content area of Pharmacology.

Cost: FREE!!!

Target Audience: Licenced clinicians providing direct services to youth in the mental health and substance abuse treatment disorders field.

Trainer: Michael Fox, MSSA, PCC-S, LCDC-III is a research associate & Trainer with the Center for Innovative Practices at the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU)’s Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. He provides educational training and consultation to professionals working with youth and families with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse issues, including the Integrated Co-Occurring Treatment Model (ICT) model developed by the Center for Innovative Practices.