Young adults in this day and age are facing new and difficult challenges that previous generations were not subjected to. As a young adult addiction treatment specialist I have seen over the years the development of strange patterns and sociological trends that effect the treatment of young adults in addiction treatment.  I am always aware of the media's role in shaping the young adults of today.  Dr. Drew Pinsky has just released a book that helps explain the new dilemma facing today's young adults, "The Mirror Effect."  The book explores how YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and personal blogging offer the dangers of instant celebrity to the most vulnerable people in America, our youth.  I have seen this strange effect in our clients.  I have experienced narcissistic characteristics in clients in drug and alcohol rehab for many years now, but today something is askew like never before.  Clients are even more entitled, exhibitionistic, and  exploitive than they ever have been.  I used to say that most of my young adults had dreams and goals of becoming rock stars and movie stars.  These desires have not subsided over the years but grown and morphed into something even more shallow - the desire to become reality t.v. stars.  Many young adults today want to become Mixed Martial Arts fighters as well.  Essentially young adults today want fame and money more than ever before.  Like many of us, they think that fame and money will solve all of their problems. Shows like Cribs on MTV do not help the situation.  The entire marketing industry is devoted to creating envy, or to use a bit more ancient term, covetousness.  Every celebrity magazine and t.v. show is devoted to creating covetousness.  I often tell people that magazines such as People, US Magazine, and the other gossip magazines are worse than pornography.  Where pornography creates lust, gossip magazines and t.v. shows create covetousness and envy.  The difference is that covetousness is more socially acceptable than lust, yet it creates just as many problems in society.  We are seeing the effects of that today in our youth and celebrity saturated culture, where normal people (well semi-normal people) who don't actually "do" anything become rich and famous.  People like Paris Hilton, Kardashian, and the others who don't actually "do" anything are the worst example of this.  They give the impression that being a celebrity is an end in itself.

Labels: XYZ Generation and Drug and Alcohol Treatment, Young Adult Addiction Treatment, Young People In Recovery