Navigating School Mental Health in the Age of Addiction-View Presentation

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This APA session focused on addiction in school mental health, expanding the concept beyond alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, and other substances to include behavioral addictions such as social media, internet gaming, and gambling.<br /><br />The first speaker, Bridget Taurisi, offered a humanities-based framing of addiction and adolescence. She argued that “desire” is not the same as addiction, and emphasized that young people’s longing, intensity, creativity, and search for identity are developmentally normal and often valuable. She used examples from Hamilton, religious ecstasy, and gothic literature to show how powerful feelings in adolescence can be both overwhelming and meaningful.<br /><br />Arastu Amizadeh then reviewed the science of problematic social media use. He described data showing high screen time, anxiety when disconnected, and a substantial proportion of youth reporting negative effects on relationships, school, and mood. He noted overlap with addiction circuitry in the brain and warned that platforms are designed to maximize engagement through features like endless scrolling, intermittent rewards, and algorithmic personalization. He highlighted comorbidity with depression, anxiety, ADHD, body image concerns, insomnia, and suicide risk. Suggested interventions included family therapy, sleep hygiene, school device limits, CBT, and reduced use rather than total abstinence.<br /><br />Vedrana Hodzic presented the APA Foundation’s school program, Notice, Talk, Act at School, which trains all school staff to recognize warning signs, start conversations, and connect students to care. She shared strong pilot outcomes and described companion educational materials for students, parents, and staff.<br /><br />The panel discussion emphasized that schools are essential for prevention, that community-wide norms may be more effective than family-only rules, and that future tools may include peer programs, TMS, and precision psychiatry.

Keywords

addiction

school mental health

behavioral addictions

social media use

internet gaming

gambling

adolescence

problematic screen time

digital engagement

school-based prevention

mental health interventions