Teen Self-Medication: Causes and Treatment Options

6 Reasons Why Teens Self-Medicate and How to Provide Support

Self-medication is when a person engages in substance use or other potentially harmful behaviors to cope with something that requires professional help. People of any age can self-medicate. This includes teens and adolescents.

So, what are the reasons behind teen self-medication? Let’s be very clear: self-medicating isn’t one size fits all. Many things in life can be too much for a person to manage on their own.

For example, a mental health condition or a stressful life event. Kids, teens, and adults all experience these situations.

Getting help now means teens can learn to navigate these circumstances healthily. Artemis Adolescent Healing Center provides young people and their families with the tools they need to cope with everything from daily life challenges to serious symptoms that affect functioning and quality of life.

Why Do People Self Medicate? 6 Possible Reasons for Teen Self-Medication

Self-medication isn’t the same as experimenting. While a teen might try alcohol at a party (as a  common example), someone who is self-medicating does it for a reason. It’s not easy to stop on your own.

1. Intense Emotions Without Effective Coping Strategies

As kids enter their teen years, emotions often become more intense. For some, they’re more intense than they are for others. If adolescents don’t have effective coping strategies to manage uncomfortable emotions, they may turn to what works and is available to them.

The result of this is often unhealthy self-medication. Part of a therapist’s role is to teach healthier, more effective coping strategies and how to apply them in everyday life.

2. Stress and Overwhelm

Like intensified emotions, increased stress is common during the transition from childhood to adulthood. This could be academic stress. It could be social struggles. It could be feeling anxious about the future.

Stress is a risk factor for substance abuse.[1] It’s also associated with an increased risk of other new or worsened mental health problems, like anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.[2] A therapist can help teens learn to manage stress in ways that are helpful rather than harmful.

3. Uncertainty, Life Transitions, and the Need for Control

A specific source of stress teens might face is uncertainty or major life changes that make them feel out of control. Teens have fewer things they’re in control of compared to adults. When we don’t feel in control, we often look for things that make us feel like we are.

In many cases, we don’t even realize that that’s what we’re doing. But this is a common cause of self-medication.

4. Underlying Mental or Behavioral Health Conditions

Teens may self-medicate by abusing alcohol or other substances when something in their life is too much to bear using their current set of tools and knowledge. This could be something external–like moving, academic pressure, or bullying–or it could be something internal, like a mental health condition. Let’s take anxiety disorders as an example.

Teens may not know why they experience excessive worry or panic attacks. They might know that self-medication isn’t right, but whatever behavior they’re using (e.g., drinking, food restriction) lowers the severity of these symptoms temporarily.

This is true for other conditions, too. For example, a teen with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may struggle with rejection sensitivity, keeping up with classwork and responsibilities, or shame.

5. Peer Pressure and Exposure to Forms of Self Medication

Environmental factors are a risk factor for most potentially harmful behaviors or forms of substance abuse that become self-medication. In psychology, an environmental factor is something that happens around you. Peer pressure is one way this can manifest.

Teens might be around other teens who use drugs or urge them to try substances. It could feel like a way to fit in, in some cases. Even non-substance forms of self-medication, like risky eating behaviors, can be influenced by peer pressure.

It can also be that this is simply the way a young person is first exposed to something they later use to self-medicate. For example, trying cannabis with friends. Even if their friends don’t end up developing cannabis use disorder, they do.

This can be particularly likely when multiple risk factors are at play.

6. Traumatic Life Experiences

Trauma can refer to any adverse event. Traumatic events can be “big” and major, or they can be “small.” Teens who have been through traumatic life experiences at any age–whether it was as a toddler or recently–can be prone to self-medication.

It’s also worthwhile to note that childhood traumatic events are major risk factors for conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorders.[3]

Wha are the Most Common Forms of Self Medication in Teens?

Self-medication can take different forms. Teens who are self-medicating might:

• Use illegal drugs, alcohol, cannabis, or nicotine.
• Misuse prescription drugs or over-the-counter products.
• Use household goods as intoxicants.
• Engage in disordered eating behaviors.
• Self harm.

It’s ideal not to view these things as a phase. It is easier to treat substance use and mental health problems early.[4]

Early identification can prevent new or worsened mental health and substance use-related concerns.

How Can Adolescent Self Medication Affect Mental Health?

Self-medication often means that mental health issues go overlooked. It can mask mental health issues like anxiety or depression, which can mean that a teen does not get necessary treatment. Mental health issues like these tend to worsen over time if left unaddressed.

Self-medication can also result in new mental health problems. As just one example, teens who self-medicate with drugs and alcohol run the risk of developing substance use disorders.

How to Provide Support for a Self-Medicating Teen

Loved ones and treatment professionals both play an essential role in supporting teens with mental health concerns. Their roles are just different.

Here are some things you can do if you want to know how to support a teen with their mental health at home.

• Know the importance of your initial reaction. Stay calm when confronting teens about self-medication. This prevents them from shutting down. Refraining from getting angry about the behavior makes it more possible to uncover the root cause.
• Create a positive home environment. Provide a safe, loving, and structured home environment.
• Emotional validation. Validate your child’s emotions. This means listening to how they feel and not discounting it, even if you don’t understand. Focus on the feeling–say things like “that sounds painful” or “that sounds hard” instead of “there’s no reason to feel that way.”
• The role of family involvement in treatment. Family members play an important role in teen mental health treatment. Attend family therapy sessions. Don’t hesitate to ask treatment providers questions or to ask for resources. Treatment centers and professionals are here to help.

Some parents feel helpless. You are not. Anyone can struggle with mental health. Being supportive is more powerful than you know.

Call Artemis for Trusted Teen Treatment Support Options 

Artemis Adolescent Healing Center is a well-regarded behavioral health center for teens navigating a range of mental health concerns. We are JCAHO-accredited, with a caring and compassionate team here to collaborate with and support families throughout the treatment process.

We offer inpatient and outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment programs for teens. They are covered by most forms of health insurance. Whether you’re ready to find help for your teen or simply have a question for us, we’re here to help.

Call our confidential admissions line today.

References

1. Sinha, R. (2008, October). Chronic stress, drug use, and vulnerability to addiction. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2732004/
2. Barakat, S., McLean, S. A., Bryant, E., Le, A., Marks, P., National Eating Disorder Research Consortium, Touyz, S., & Maguire, S. (2023, January 17). Risk factors for eating disorders: Findings from a rapid review. Journal of eating disorders. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9847054/
3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2025, January 30). Trauma and stress. National Institutes of Health. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trauma-and-stress
4. Early identification of mental health issues in young people. Mental Health America. (2025, July 10). https://mhanational.org/position-statements/early-identification-of-mental-health-issues-in-young-people/