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Alcohol and Drugs. Why Do Teens Use?

By and

Posted in: Multimedia, Parenting Concerns, Podcast

Topics: Addiction & Substance Misuse

Many of us know that the teen years can be a time for experimenting with alcohol and other drugs. But a recent CDC study found the reason why teens use substances today isn’t just for experimentation, but also to stop worrying about problems, and even to help with depression or anxiety. This is really concerning.

Today, Gene and Khadijah discuss how to approach your teen if you’ve discovered they are using alcohol, marijuana, or a prescription or over-the-counter drug, and what health risks to know about for each of these.

These are hard conversations to have. We hope that ours will help you to have yours.

Media List

Follow along with the conversation.

If you have a question that we didn’t cover, please get in touch. Write to Gene or Khadijah at mghclaycenter@mgb.org.

Tune in the THIRD Thursday of every month for new episodes! Subscribe wherever you stream.

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Gene Beresin, MD, MA; Khadijah Booth Watkins, MD, MPH

[START INTRO MUSIC]

Khadijah  00:02

I think it’s important to say them like this is not a justification. But again, we know more. And so now that we know more, we can make different choices. Also, again, normalizing, you’re a kid, you’ll make mistakes, you’ll make silly choices. But if we can avoid some of the ones that are life threatening, let’s try to do that. I think that’s really again, coming from a place of concern. But sometimes kids will will push back on that way. And again, It’s important to tell the truth.

[END INTRO MUSIC]

Gene  00:28

Welcome back to Shrinking it Down, Mental Health Made Simple. I’m Gene Beresin.

Khadijah  00:32

And I’m Khadijah Booth Watkins.

Gene  00:34

And, you know, today we’re going to talk about a really, really difficult and complicated problem and that is the use of substances by teenagers. And the teen years are often a time for exploring and experimenting with different substances, like alcohol and other drugs. And that’s why we wanted to spend some time talking about this today, because it’s not just experiment and fun. But it could be other things too. So there’s a new CDC study that came out recently on the motivation behind why many teens use these drugs, characteristic of 13 to 18 year olds. And what the CDC found was that 73% use them to feel calm, mellow, or relaxed. 50% use them to have fun or experiment. But 44% use them to stop worrying about a problem or to forget bad memories. And 40% use them to help with depression or anxiety. And these drugs included alcohol, marijuana, prescription painkillers and prescription sedatives. So, another thing, another finding, and that is a half reported using alcohol and drugs alone some of the time, not just with friends and other people. So it wasn’t entirely recreational by any means.

It’s really concerning, because the US Surgeon General’s 2016 report on drugs and alcohol, showed that nearly 70% of adolescents who try and illicit drug before age 13 will develop an addiction within seven years. And that’s compared to only 27% for those who first tried after age 17. So in other words, the younger they’re trying it, the more likely they are to develop an addiction, we should point out that it’s not just illicit drugs that this is true for. It’s also true for alcohol. And it’s also true as we’re going to find out from use of over the counter and prescription drugs. So in addition to the risk for addiction and serious long term health effects, drug use and misuse among teens can put an immediate risk for them. And for risky behaviors such as, you know, affecting their brain function, their memory, but all but also, you know, things like driving. So it’s it’s super important in the short run. And the long run. I’m gonna turn it over to Khadijah because what I what I think we need to hear about is, let’s say that you either suspect, or know that your teenager has been using a substance. How do you approach them as a parent?

Khadijah what, what should what should folks do? Should parents do?

Khadijah  03:31

Let’s talk about this a little bit. Because if you know or suspect your kid is using this to be really difficult and delicate conversation to have. But you know, if someone is listening to us today, and they don’t fall into this category, I really want to just take this opportunity to really encourage you to begin having these conversations with your in person about substances, even if you don’t think it’s on their minds, because the earlier the better. And the more information they have, the more they can make better choices. But you know, climbing down off my soapbox, what do we do when we are thinking about our child might be using. It’s super scary. And we just heard the statistics, we heard the data. And it’s not great. And again, it is a delicate balance because we don’t want them to shut down or run away.

But what I think is most important before we start to have these conversations as, is we as the parent or caregiver or the adult who is thinking about having this this talk is really to check your own pulse, really want to make sure that you yourself don’t need a timeout. You could be experiencing a myriad of emotions. You could be angry, you could be sad, you could be scared, but we really want to make sure that you are ready to have a conversation. We want this conversation to be productive and constructive and engaging. We don’t want this to be a conversation where there’s a lot of yelling and screaming and a lot of heightened emotions. You might need time to think about what you want to say or how you want to say it. It is so incredibly important that that we are mindful of our tone, our body language our word choices, because again, we don’t want to come across judgmental, harsh or overly critical because this is the quickest way to pendant completely shut a conversation down with the young person, we want to make sure that we’re open, that we’re inviting because you know, after all we’re we want them to share, we want them to know that we are here to help. We want them to know that we can handle and tolerate whatever they’re going to put on the table. And again, that means we need to make sure that we’re checking our emotions. Because when kids think that we can’t handle it, or that we’re overwhelmed, a lot of kids are inclined to kind of withhold. And so we don’t want that, we do want to make sure that we’re honest, and that we’re reassuring them that we, you know, they are loved that we love them, and that we’re going to get through this together.

And so, as you’re thinking about this conversation, one of the really important things to think about is what’s the function of their behavior, why are they using and so you know, again, like you mentioned, Gene, that the thought is that kids are using, because they want to have fun, they’re curious, they want to have a good time, but what we really are seeing is that a lot of kids are using, because they’re they’re using to self soothe or self cope. And that’s really important for us to know. And so as you’re having this conversation with your kid, you want to try to get at, you know, how does this help you? What, under, in what circumstances? Or what situations are you likely to use? I really would encourage you to avoid asking why? Because sometimes why questions can come across as again, judgmental, condescending, or critical. So, you know, try to ask in a creative way, but really trying to get at what’s the function of this behavior? Why are you using it, what we see is kids use for a lot of different things. And so some kids are using to calm themselves out or feel more relaxed, they might be using to really help them not worry so much and not have such racing thoughts or to numb bad memories. Some kids will say that that helps them with their depression or anxiety some kids want to use to help with sleep. And again, there are a group of kids who are just curious, they want to have fun, they want to experiment until they’re trying it out. But knowing why they’re using or what using does for them can really help you to begin to think with them. And so that you can offer ways in which that you can support them and give them alternative treatments or activities to help them reach the same goal.

So now we’re ready for this conversation. How do we actually have this conversation? Which again, is the tricky part. And so what we also have discovered, is that when we’re having these conversations, we want to again, make sure that we’re calm and ready to have these conversations, we want to off the bat reassure your young person that this is not a conversation that you’re having to think about how you going to punish them or what the consequences are going to be, you really want to make sure that you’re that they know that you’re having this conversation because you’re concerned and you’re worried. And so you might want to begin this conversation with a story or sharing or sharing something that you’ve heard or that you’ve learned on the on the news, you want to make sure that they’re aware of these conversations going to be confidential. And if it’s not going to be confidential, who you plan to share it with, maybe there’s another parent, maybe there’s a mental health worker involved. But you want to make sure that’s clear to them as well. But again, make sure the lines of communications are open, because we want them to come to us, we want them to know that we’re here for them. And we don’t want them to hide things from us. So we want to try to strike that balance of keeping the lines of communications open. But also, you know, it’s tricky, because we’re charged with keeping them healthy and safe.

Gene  08:11

But what, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have a question. You said begin with a story. Well, I mean, you mean a story that they’ve heard on TV or a story about from their own life? Or what do you what did you mean by a story?

Khadijah 08:26

So I think you could probably do different stories. I mean, depending on the kid and the situation, you could tell a personal story, you could tell a story that you may have heard from another parent, or caregiver, you could tell a story and maybe about something that you learn at a at a Clay webinar. I don’t know, do you have an idea of what a story might be?

Gene  08:45

Well, it depends on the relationship. I think, you know, I mean, for example, what about a story from your own life? I mean, it depends on the age of the child. I mean, if it’s a very young teen, they may not be as ready to hear it as an older teen. But let’s say you tell a story about your own experience with alcohol, or with marijuana. So for example, to be transparent, when I first went to college, back in those days, you could drink at 18 in New York City, and of course, me and my friends and I went to New York City, and I got a bottle of some horrible stuff and and drank way too much and had alcohol intoxication. I was literally in bed with blinds closed for like two or three days, I could have died. But I would share that with them. Because I think it just speaks to say that, you know, these things can be dangerous.

Khadijah  09:43

I think personal narratives are really again, I think it goes back to knowing your child. You have to also be prepared to answer the questions that might follow. But I think these personal narratives can be helpful because it takes you from you know, some kids might see that you’re coming across as a parent as being on a pedestal, you never do anything wrong. And so it can help kind of again, humanize things and normalize the conversation and that make it feel so stiff and stuffy, for sure. And again, I think knowing your child, and how they will tolerate or perceive that it’s really important as well. Because I think part of what you can expect some pushback and so, you know, kids are going to have questions, some of these substances are so kind of omnipresent. And so many people are using them and doing them, they might have questions. And so I think, being able to answer and explain, you know, if they have seen you using substances, or if they know that you drink or smoke, you know, how do you explain that to them and talk about, you know, we know more about the dangers of substances and the teenage brain, we, you know, this may be legal for me and not for you, you know, again, how do we how are we responsible, you don’t want to drink to the point where unsafe or you don’t want to smoke to the point that we’re unsafe, and we’re, you know, out of out of out of consciousness.

Gene  10:55

Or they might come back and say to me, if I tell that story, in college, well, you didn’t die. So, so why can I experiment, you know, and take a chance on drinking?

Khadijah  11:09

It again, it just goes back to I think we are reiterating what we know about drinking early, what we know about the exposure to the young brain and let in higher levels of alcohol and, and other and other substances and the damage that does to the brain that’s continuing to develop, we didn’t know as much about that before. I think that’s super important. And it’s important to be truthful and honest. Yeah, I could, I could have bad yeah, it wasn’t a great choice. And I, you know, as your parents would like to try to avoid you making the exact same mistakes today, they did. Also, again, normalizing your kid, you’ll make mistakes, you’ll make silly choices. But if we can avoid some of the ones that are life threatening, let’s try to do that. I think that’s really again, coming from a place of concern. I think, again, you can use some lightness and some humor if again, if the if the situation calls for but you know, we don’t have to, you know, go to those lengths to see that something is bad, I can share my experience, but sometimes kids will, will push back in that way. And it’s important to tell the truth. Or

Gene  12:11

They might say, you know, you use pot when you were in college, and it was illegal, you know, now, it’s illegal for me, but why can’t I use it? One answer is to say, Well, yeah, you’re right. But the pot that was around in the 1970s. at Woodstock, or wherever it was not, was like 5%, potent. Now, it’s like 85%, the potency has escalated beyond belief. So it actually was, that’s not the justification for it. But there is a big difference between smoking pot  now or vaping it and when it was done in the 70s. And then you can have a discussion, about potency, about strength, and about what a higher concentration of pot can actually do in terms of in terms of brain damage.

Khadijah  13:10

And I think it’s important to say them like this is not a justification. But again, we know more. And so now that we know more, we can make different choices, and the strains are different. The chemical compounds that people are using are different, the risks that people face to contamination is much greater than it was before. And so there’s so many more kind of levels and layers of risks that the young people are faced with today. And in today’s landscape. And I think it’s important to talk about, and again, you have to expect the push back and be prepared to to talk about those things. If your kids see you or have, you know, accidentally walked in on you doing something that maybe you weren’t supposed to be doing, you should be prepared to be challenged with questions about that in a way that, you know, you guys can have a productive, constructive conversation about it.

And I think one more point is really, in this conversation, maybe not part of this conversation. But it’s really important to make sure that you set limits, and make sure the consequences are clear, it’s best to do this in advance. But if you guys if you know that there are things that are not okay, you know, in terms of underage drinking, underage smoking, be clear about those limits that you have for your household and for your child and make sure the consequences are clear. So that if it does happen, because again, we expect kids to make poor choices from time to time. We don’t have to in the moment of heightened emotion come up with you know what the consequences going to be, because that’s usually when we as parents tend to go overboard with taking your TV away for the rest of your life or you know, you’re going to, you know, not have allowance for three months, like sometimes that can be extreme so you can make a consequence that’s fitting for the for the infraction.

But I’ve said a lot. And so I guess that all being said, let’s talk about the differences between drugs or substances that kids might use and how we might have different conversations about it or how we might approach it differently.

Gene  15:00

Well, for one thing, both pot and alcohol are illegal until 21. And we need to have discussions about that. Because if kids are experimenting with them to poor teenagers, they don’t like to be called Kids, if our teens or young, you know, are experimenting with them, or young adults. I mean, that’s a whole other issue that we’ve talked about in other podcasts whether a young person is an adult of 18, when the brain is only one quarter developed, that’s another story. But they can get into legal trouble. And depending on the state, I mean, the consequences can be pretty severe. I mean, they might lose their driver’s license, they may have a criminal record, they may be put on probation. There’s all kinds of legal issues that they have to remember, if they’re going to experiment.

Khadijah  15:54

I think that’s important with kids, because the impulsivity that a lot of young people have, they don’t think about the long term consequences. And I think, again, that’s just another point of fact that you can share with them, you know, they might get pulled out of school. They might, you know, be sent home from college. These are things that you just don’t want to, is it worth the risk?

Gene  16:11

Right, right. And the other thing that they need to know are some factual evidence, some science, and that is that alcohol and marijuana are dangerous to the developing brain. And the earlier people start drinking alcohol, they’re more likely to have a measurable impact on cognitive functions in terms of their thinking, their memory, and school performance over time, even into adulthood. And for those who start drinking in the teen years, they’re more at risk becoming dependent. That’s what the CDC found. So they need to know that. And while we don’t have many studies on, on the effects of marijuana use when teens, we know that it may impact their memory, their motivation and their academic performance. We also know that both alcohol and marijuana affect driving. You know, there’s a there’s a misconception that many parents even have that marijuana does not impair driving. This is absolutely wrong. It slows reaction time. It’s it’s distractible, if you’re listening to music, you can be focusing on something else. If you’re if you’re talking or chatting with another young person in the car, and you’re under the influence, you’re not as paying as much attention to the road. There’s so many reasons and there’s so many studies that have shown that that driving under the influence is really dangerous, not just for you, but for other drivers on the road pedestrians, you know, other people, you know, riding their bikes. Now, one of the things we haven’t talked about is over the counter medications. What do you think about that Khadija? What, what how do we talk with how do we deal with kids using over the counter medications, because they can go to a drugstore and get it and get all kinds of things.

Khadijah  18:18

And I think this is one of the things that we don’t talk about enough. Because it’s over the counter with the purchase of it, it’s seemingly on the surface safe, but just because you can purchase it over the counter doesn’t mean it’s safe. And it all depends on you as a person taking it, the dosage that you’re taking it, and whatever other things that you might personally have going on with you. You might have a the medical conditions or f the medications you’re taking in and all matters, but people can take too much of an over kind of over the counter medication and, and ended up you know, poisoning themselves and ended up in the emergency room or even ended up fighting for their lives. Because it really is can be that serious, depending on the medication that they take. I mean, again, some of your medication that you might buy over the counter might interact with medications you’re already on or if you combine them with other medications that are not over the counter like alcohol or marijuana. It just kind of exacerbates the the effect and can be really really dangerous. One of the things I think that we hear a lot about is really the the ingredients that you find in cough syrups that can be really make people doesn’t make high or make him sleepy.

Gene  19:22

You mean dextromethorphan? Oh I think it can get some people high. Dextromethorphan can get you a little bit sedated and a little bit fuzzy.

Khadijah  19:38

So so and I these are these are the things that we don’t really think about so much because we like they’re over the counter but even things like Tylenol like you know taking too much just a little bit too much Tylenol can really destroy your liver and really put you in the hospital you know, again fighting for your life and so we’re thinking about things that we have in our cabinets, our medicine cabinets as for routine coughs and colds and allergies, but taking too much of it or, or again, not thinking about your other health conditions or other medications, you’re on can be really, really dangerous. And so I think we should, you know, as physicians, as parents, caregivers really talk a little bit more about this with our young people, so they know, and

Gene  20:17

I didn’t mention it, but dextromethorphan or the cough suppressant can cause confusion, inappropriate laughter, agitation, paranoia, it can cause some euphoria. Hallucinations, it can include sensory changes, you feel like you’re floating, and dextromethorphan intoxication can include, you know, either over-excitability or lethargy, poor coordination, slurred speech, hypertension, I mean, it really can be quite dangerous and damaging. So they should know that. But let’s move to a different a different topic, which is perhaps even more worrisome. And that is the use of prescription drugs. So what do we do? What do we what do we know about the overuse of prescription drugs? And what do you? What do you say to your kids about that?

Khadijah  21:16

Most prescription drugs we consider to be safe and effective if they’re used correctly, like meaning under the advisement or supervision of a physician or prescriber. But again, if not used correctly, they can have serious and sometimes even lethal side effects. And again, when they’re mixed, or use with other things. Or again, if you have other medications that you might be taking or conditions, things can get exacerbated, and things can go downhill pretty quickly. And, you know, we know that teens are misusing prescription drugs, again, in different amounts, and for different reasons. But it affects their mind their brain and affects their ability to execute good judgment. And it really, it really makes them vulnerable to becoming, you know, to being habit forming and becoming addicted, and dependent. And so this is really important that we, again, are having these conversations with our young people, you know, just some data on this, we know that more than 50% of teens, typically they get them for free, because they get them maybe leftover from a friend or a relative one in five, get them through a doctor that they’re prescribed for these medications, one in 10 might buy them from a friend or relative, and less than 10, less than one in 20 get them from the street, meaning that they pay for them. But they’re incredibly addictive, we know that they’re incredibly harmful and unsafe. And it’s very easy to take too much. And then that stops your breathing. And so again, we really have to have these conversations with our young people about the dangers, the risks, again, what we also know it’s about the contamination and the chemical compounds that are out on the streets and how lethal they are, and just very, very small amounts, and they might not even know that they are taking those things. And so, you know, with that if you are listening, and you have concerns about your child who might be using opioid medications, and Narcan, which is available over the counter and essentially reverses the effects of an opioid is something you can have kind of on the shelf, and even if you’re not worried about someone is something that they can’t hurt to have kind of in your, your medicine kit.

Gene  23:19

So the other thing I’d like to mention a couple of the things about prescription drugs, about half 50% of kids who misuse them, get them from a friend or family member. So they may have some extra oxycodone, or they may have some extra Ambien, or they may have some extra benzodiazepines, which is the valium derivatives like Lorazepam and you know, while those things can really cause trouble, if they mix them with alcohol, it can potentiate them. I mean, so a typical combination that can get a kid into real trouble is taking something like a Xanny bar, which is a two milligram Xanax, or alprazolam and combining that with alcohol. And that’s one problem. Second thing is if they’re getting if they’re getting opiates, like oxycodone, and then they can’t find any, they might find a dealer who says, well, you know, it’s not that far off from from heroin, or morphine. And maybe you’d want to try some of that, you know, you don’t have to shoot it up. You can snort it. Unfortunately, it’s extraordinarily dangerous, and many of the overdoses or are not just from the heroin itself, but from the mixture of heroin and fentanyl with xylazine. Which is very common these days. So I can’t impress upon listeners. You know, anyone that’s taken some of these drugs like oxycodone or Oxycontin, you know, Some people can’t tolerate it because it makes them sick makes them nauseous. But those that can’t tolerate it the way it may the euphoria can be so compelling for certain people, that if you run out, there may be a real temptation to kind of use the street drugs, you know, for the, for the euphoria. Or, if you have pain, you know, you’re not really having open conversations with your prescribing physicians and seeing what you can do for pain. And there are other remedies for pain rather than using opioids. But that’s another whole subject.

Khadijah  25:39

And I think this is a great opportunity to really think about, and I have this conversation with families, you know, often people will hold on to medication that they were prescribed for, you know, a dental procedure or, you know, a minor operation, because maybe they’ll need it again one day, and really thinking about the risk of having, you know, their young person, and it might not even be their young person, it may be someone else coming into the house, like a, you know, one of the kids friends or, you know, unfortunately, maybe a family member, but really important to say, if I’m not taking this medication anymore, I don’t need to continue to have it in the house. And so to discard it, because we don’t want to kind of create this opportunity. And really, we want to do as much as we can to reduce the harm, that we kind of put our put our young people in it. So it’s really important that to not have excess medication lying around if we’re not using it, and we’re not taking them. So, now that we have set all of these things, and had all these great conversations that have been really difficult to have, what are the options for our kids? Once we have figured out you know, that they’re using and that they that we want to try to connect them to services? Like what are the services? And how do we figure out what services are right for our kids?

Gene  26:49

Well, the first thing is, if you suspect that your teenager is misusing substances, it’s always useful to get an evaluation and part of the evaluation. And you know, here at MGH we have the Adolescent Recovery Management Service, which is part of our addiction service. And what a typical evaluation will involve is look at look at some psychiatric disorders, like we mentioned that, you know, some, almost half of the kids are using, using substances to quell or cope with anxiety or depression. So we want to know if there’s anxiety, what kind of anxiety is a generalized anxiety disorder? Is it a panic disorder? Is it a social anxiety disorder? And we have many blogs about these things on the Clay website, if you’re interested in learning about them. If it’s depression, is it just depression? Or is it, is it a form of a bipolar disorder, which might make them even more impulsive? Another, another psychiatric disorder, which is very commonly associated with substance misuse, is trauma: Is it an acute stress disorder, or post traumatic stress disorder. And so there are many conditions that need to be evaluated. Also, in the evaluation, the clinician is going to be looking at if their family problems. So, family turmoil, family upset family problems, including domestic violence may be one of the reasons why a young person turns to substances, you know, other learning disabilities that might make them just frantic about trying to cope with studying and if they’re not getting the assistance that they need to achieve. And, and so there, there are many reasons that they’re going to be looking for, to make an evaluation. And then they’ll, recommend treatment. So let’s say they determined that there is a problem with either addiction, or excessive substance misuse. And, you know, the typical kinds of options, or will the gold standard, the 12 step program, which, as John Kelly has pointed out, is extraordinarily effective. As a matter of fact, what many people don’t really know is that 75% of people with addictions recover largely through the help of the of the 12 step program. Most of the time, the misbelief is, is that if you’ve got a substance abuse problem with misuse problem, you’re doomed. And that’s just not true. And for the 12 step program for the kid, for the family, Al Anon, is extraordinarily helpful. And usually there’ll be recommendations for individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, If, and if the problem is so intractable is so severe that these that these outpatient programs can’t work, then we have to, we have to look at a residential placement for the young person. Because sometimes taking the young person out of society, and in a therapeutic community is extraordinarily important in in providing an atmosphere and a setting in which recovery can really occur.

Khadijah  30:37

These are all really, I mean, there’s so many options. And I think understanding what’s best for your child is really important. And the idea of the stigma is really important to understand how that plays in. But I think most important, you know, whatever path you choose is really, you know, because kids will often feel like they’re being sent to treatment or sent away really making sure that they know that we’re in this together, that we’re going to get through this together, we’re going to work to figure out what’s going to be helpful. Because it could be some other things going on, like, you know, like you said, there could be some poor current things happening, but it’s so important to, for them to feel like they have a team and that you’re part of their team.

Gene  31:18

Is there anything that well, there’s so much that we haven’t covered, I was gonna say, is there anything we haven’t covered, there’s a ton of stuff like this, there’s so much more. But I would, I would encourage people to look at the Clay Center website on the material that we have on substance use, and to look at our media references. And if we haven’t covered, something that you really want to hear about, please send us a note, send us a request. And we can always produce a podcast or a blog, or a short video about a topic that you that you haven’t heard about, or that we don’t have one on our website.

Khadijah  31:59

So I’m gonna say before we wrap up, though, because you know, we kind of ran through this whole substance using talking to your kids in like 45 minutes. And I really want maybe 30 minutes. And I really want to, like manage the expectations is that this is not going to be a one and done conversation. This is going to be conversations, multiple conversations over a period of time. And again, there’ll be tough conversations, and you might have to take a step back, the kid might have to take a step back, you know, you might have to bring other people in. Again, you might be also going for additional treatment, but it really is a series of conversations that you’re having with your young person about, you know, supporting them and helping them and that you that your goals are to have them be healthy, happy and safe.

Gene  32:45

So again, if anybody has questions or comments or issues they wanted to bring up please let us know. And we hope that our conversation will help you have yours. I’m Gene Beresin.

Khadijah  32:52

And I’m Khadijah Booth Watkins. Until next time.

[OUTRO MUSIC]

 

Podcast music by Gene Beresin

Episode produced by Sara Rattigan and Spenser Egnatz

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Gene Beresin

Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Gene Beresin, MD, MA is executive director of The MGH Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds, and a staff child and adolescent psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also...

To learn more about Gene, or to contact him directly, please see Our Team.

Khadijah Booth Watkins

Khadijah Booth Watkins, Associate Director

Khadijah Booth Watkins, MD, MPH, is associate director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the Associate Director of the Child and...

To learn more about Khadijah, or to contact her directly, please see Our Team.

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