Drug addiction in children: prevention

The preservation and promotion of youth health is a priority area of activity in the field of public health.

Effective prevention of youth use of psychoactive substances is an important task facing all educational institutions interested in educating a healthy generation.

Due to the introduction of a new federal law and the order "On Approval of the Procedure for conducting socio-psychological testing of persons studying in general education organizations and professional educational organizations, as well as in educational institutions of higher education" (Registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia on 08/13/2014 N 33576), this activity is becoming particularly important. Important tasks of prevention in schools and educational institutions are:

• prevention of drug testing and active use by children and adolescents and promotion of their overall health (universal prevention);

• reducing the level of psychoactive substance use in a group of children and adolescents who regularly experiment with surfactants (selective prevention);

• provision of medical, psychological and medical care to children and adolescents with disorders related to the consumption of surfactants (indicative prevention).

Clinical psychologists and doctors of the Clinic of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the European Medical Center are ready to assist educational institutions in fulfilling these tasks. All specialists of the department have extensive experience in working with schoolchildren and students of different age groups.

Doctors conduct life skills trainings aimed at forming a positive image of the future, the idea that the use of surfactants limits the possibility of life choices. At the same time, the purpose of the training is by no means to impose unambiguous conclusions and solutions. Classes are conducted in an interactive form – this allows all participants to freely express their opinions, which contributes to the maximum involvement of teenagers in the process, and, consequently, to improving the effectiveness of the classes themselves.

In addition, the clinic's specialists conduct a thorough diagnosis of the risk level associated with substance use. This is important both for physical health (prevention of the development of pathology of the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, brain, etc.) and for mental health (prevention of the development of problems of adaptation in school, the likelihood of addiction).

Diagnosis is performed using the AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test) and ASSIST (The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test) tools developed by the World Health Organization. Based on the research results, our specialists will be able to draw up an individual plan for providing psychological, as well as, if necessary, medical care to young people for whom experiments with psychoactive substances pose a particular threat.