Different institutions use different procedures in analyzing abuse of drugs. One of these is the Behavior Pharmacology Program that uses operant behavioral procedures where the goal is to determine how drug self-administration is modified both by manipulation of behavioral contingencies and administration of putative treatment agents. Other programs include the interactions between abused drugs and the neuroendocrine system. There are ways in which the abused drugs modulate the hormonal milieu spurring the reproductive dysfunction.
More recent studies on the drug-induce alterations in hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal hormones contribute to the reinforcing effects of cocaine (Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center). Meanwhile, it has been found out that frustration and hopelessness about life- is the most common psychological problem of adolescence. About 15-20% of teenagers have had major depressive episodes, a rate comparable to adults.
Depression occurs twice as often in girls as boys. Adolescent depression is associated with drug abuse, lawbreaking, and car accidents, and it predicts future problems in school performance, employment, and marriage. Because of the stereotype of adolescence as a period of storm and stress, many adults misinterpret adolescents’ depressive symptoms. This condition is actually difficult to recognize in adolescents because they manifest it in a variety of ways.
Adolescents are almost always able to cover up what they are feeling. In males, the depression can also be expressed as rage. Depressed teens usually display a learned-helpless attributional style in which they view positive outcomes in school performance and peer relations as beyond their control. The challenges of adolescence combined with gender-typed coping styles contribute to making girls more prone to depression. Coping with new experiences and responsibilities of adolescence is hard.
Suddenly, young people need to cope in a variety of settings, including school, home, peer group, and the workplace, with a range of life problems, from examinations to divorce. Frydenberg addresses the relationships between coping and age, gender, and ethnicity, and between family functioning and coping. She also states that there is a correlation between the measurement of coping, how we learn to cope, and such areas as social support and depression (Frydenberg, E. 1997).