Any normal parent wants his teenage child not to develop an attraction to alcohol, smoking, drugs, computer games or gambling. Often this desire is dictated by personal sad experience of living in a dysfunctional family, for example, with an alcoholic or drug addict father. It also happens that their own abuse of alcohol, cigarettes, drugs or games pushes parents to figure out how addiction is formed and how to protect their family from it. Researchers who study various forms of addictive behavior agree that not every person is susceptible to addiction (however , all psychoactive substances (PAS) and gambling are a total evil and it’s better to never try them!): - Having taken drugs once, not everyone will become a drug addict: one will try and forget, another will get “addicted” and “burn out” in a couple of years. - Student life with alcoholic parties for some remains nothing more than memories of carefree youth, for others it will develop into alcoholism. - Computer games for some will forever remain an infantile entertainment, for others - a serious addiction that will force an adult to spend most of the time playing the game his life. Why does one person get hooked on psychoactive substances or addictive behavior, while another does not? In the scientific literature, a so-called “portrait of an addict” has been formed - this is a complex of psychological personal characteristics, the owners of which are at risk for developing various types of chemical and non-chemical addictions. If your teenage child has a complex of these qualities, then the likelihood of becoming an alcoholic, drug addict or gambling addict for him, unfortunately, it increases sharply. Here is the list: - low self-esteem; - high anxiety; - conformity in communication (this is when a person easily agrees with the opinion of another person or group, even if he does not like this opinion); - difficulties in accepting one’s body and appearance; - a feeling of lack of mutual understanding (in the family and other important group, for example, in a school class); - low social intelligence (social intelligence is the mental ability to understand other people (their thoughts, feelings, behavior, motives ); - absence or scarcity of social competence (social competence is the skills necessary for successful adaptation in society); - the need for communication and the simultaneous difficulty in realizing this need (due to embarrassment, shame, fear, physical characteristics); - emotional tension (experience of one's own helplessness and uselessness). The more of the above qualities a teenager has, the more difficult it is for him to be in society, to build positive relationships, to express himself and to realize his potential. In this case, reality is perceived as dangerous, life as difficult. Substance abuse or addictive behavior (gaming addiction, Internet addiction, gambling) becomes a way to escape from cruel reality. Addiction gives the teenager a “short-term reward” in the form of a state of independence from the difficulties of life. Positive emotions appear, a feeling of courage, strength, beauty, relaxedness, a feeling of belonging to an important group of guys, an illusory absence of problems. Addiction allows a teenager to adapt, albeit imaginary, during a crisis period of his life. This may be the use of surfactants as a way to be recognized as “one of us” in the pack - a motive for group self-affirmation. This could be playing games where, for example, his problems with appearance are not visible through the computer screen - a motive for reducing social anxiety through avoiding direct communication. Changes at the level of the body, including the brain, with the use of psychoactive substances and addictive behavior are not long in coming, and then the motive for use becomes a change in consciousness and the resulting pleasure as a means of resolving intrapersonal conflicts. “Long-term costs” of the use of psychoactive substances and addictive behavior by a teenager are ignored in strength of young age, good health and lack of stable).