How Addiction Hijacks the Brain 2016
Distributed by Human Relations Media, 41 Kensico Drive, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549; 800-431-2050
Produced by Peter Cochran
Directed by Peter Cochran
DVD, color, 24 min.
Middle School - General Adult
Health Sciences, Substance Abuse
Date Entered: 12/20/2016
Reviewed by Kay Hogan Smith, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Lister Hill Library of the Health SciencesThis film takes the approach of demonstrating with fascinating graphics how addictive substances used from an early age actually affects a young person’s brain growth and development in substantial ways, leading to tolerance, then dependence and finally addiction. The end result of course is either a severely diminished life and early death or a hard slog to recovery from the addiction. Prevention of addiction from ever taking hold is the best approach according to the numerous experts interviewed. The film’s focus on alcohol and drugs’ effects on the brain – which often include an actual decline in IQ among addicts who began using before the age of 18 – may suffice to alert adolescents to the dangers of getting started with alcohol and drugs.
The cool graphics and expert interviews are interwoven with self-narrated stories of a diverse group of personable young people who are recovering alcoholics or drug addicts themselves. They help to drive home the hopeful note about the neuroplasticity of the young brain aiding in recovery from addiction. Recommended for all adolescent health collections.