October 2016

Author and reporter Maia Szalavitz, who writes about substance use and related issues recently spoke with Youth Today and JJIE about her experience and her newest book: “ Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction ,” released in April. Here’s Szalavitz’s take on addiction and its complexities, from her own experience and in her own words. [For more of this story, written by Karen Savage, go to http://jjie.org/kids-and-drugs-a-new-theory/313866/]

Toxic stress in children is a topic Montanans are beginning to hear more about. Researchers have been discovering that children raised with certain traumas -- known as Adverse Childhood Experiences -- can suffer lifelong impacts. Traumatic experiences such as neglect or emotional, physical or sexual abuse cause the child’s brain to flood with cortisol, a chemical the body releases as part of its fight-or-flight response when threatened. When the brain floods with cortisol, it affects the...