Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: "Does the deterioration of social and moral norms push young people to addiction?"

President of Üsküdar University Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan was the live broadcast guest of the Gündem Özel program with Gülden Kalecik broadcast on TGRT Haber. Tarhan made evaluations on the topics of "Social Decay, Societal Decay and Recent Events". Stating that family bonds weaken with the deterioration of social and moral norms, Tarhan pointed out that as a result, young people are dragged into addiction. Emphasizing that policies related to addiction should be reviewed, Tarhan expressed that "We need to focus on improving the quality of life of young people. Young people are turning to substances as a stress reduction technique."

"Addiction occurs with the weakening of family bonds"

Stating that family ties weaken with the deterioration of social and moral norms, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out that as a result, young people are dragged into addiction. Tarhan stated that "We cannot come up with the right solutions without analyzing why such problems arise. There are two main important areas here. One is family and the other is addiction and substance use. The weakening of family bonds, the ambiguity of parental roles, the inability of social patterns in society to protect the family, and the inability of family norms and moral norms to protect the family and young people are important reasons. The disintegration of social and moral norms plays a very important role here. It is very important in the family that the parents do not know how to behave in this new and changing world on their children. The other negative effect is addiction, which occurs with the weakening of family bonds. Addiction policies now need to be reconsidered. Currently, studies are being carried out on addiction."

"We should focus on improving the quality of life of young people"

Stating that policies related to addiction should be reviewed, Tarhan expressed that "We need to focus on improving the quality of life of young people. Young people are resorting to the substance as a stress reduction technique. 70-80 percent of them resort to stress reduction techniques and 20-30 percent to thrill-seeking. For this reason, unless we correct the cause of substance use, and if we try to fight only with prohibitions, intimidation and methods left over from the Middle Ages, it will not yield results. Therefore, the method needs to change. In the fight against addiction, the method of strengthening the positive should be used instead of fighting the negative. This is not the case with addiction in Türkiye. This shows little slow results but permanent results. These addiction policies need to be reviewed and new answers to old questions need to be given."

"The most important thing is that the house is a warm space"

Drawing attention to the mistakes in parents' attitudes towards young people, Prof. Tarhan stated that "There is a movement called 'Incel.' In this incel movement, anti-women trend is produced. In other words, when young people who experience a situation such as compulsory celibacy cannot express their sexuality to the opposite sex, they have created social media platforms about their tendency to kill. There are a lot of attitude errors on the part of the parents here. In other words, they either put too much pressure on the child or they do the mothering and fatherhood style that allows everything. For this reason, if parents used to allocate half an hour to their children 50 years ago, they should now allocate an hour. We will make the house a safe environment for them. The most important thing is that the house is a warm space. When children come home, they should feel as if they have come to a shelter, a safe space. If they come home afraid, if there is constant pressure, threats and scolding at home, the child either takes refuge in social media or turns to the wrong friends. Therefore, the solution is not difficult. When we strengthen the family and put addiction policies on the table again, the negative trend evolves into a positive one."

"Depression is not a disease that can be cured by advice"

Stating that depression is not a disease that can be cured with advice, Tarhan said that the right drug treatment should be applied. Tarhan stated that "When the psychological anatomy of the mental state of young people is extracted, the most common condition is depression. Depression is not a disease that can be cured by advice. They say, 'Stop overthinking it, travel and enjoy life, be your own doctor, have a determined will.' This is not this kind of disorder, and the chemical messages of the brain are disrupted. Serotonin dopamine levels are decreasing. It is necessary to give them appropriate medication."

The 'Love, Value, Share' rule develops children's sense of belonging...

Emphasizing that communication with children should be spoken in the form of dialogue, not monologue, Tarhan pointed out that problems are solved more easily in families who can communicate in this way. Tarhan stated that "Parents should apply the rule of 'Love, Value, Share' to their children. It develops children's sense of belonging. In other words, when he comes home, it is most likely that either the mother or father is giving lectures and preaching. This makes children feel worthless. There is a weakness here that comes from our culture. The dose of criticism in our culture is very high. In other words, when we try to correct the child by criticizing, we damage the child's self-confidence, and the child cannot say 'This is my opinion' because their self-confidence is low. They cannot say 'no' to peer bullying and falls under the influence of these gangs. Adolescence is also the age of ganging. Young people deteriorate in the period of searching for their own identity. Here, if the house is a healthy, warm communication environment, and children return home even if they make a mistake or two. For this reason, this problem is solved more easily in families who can talk to children like a dialogue, not a monologue."

Young people are feeding on fake praise on social media...

Stating that boundaries should be drawn using a common language in the family environment, Prof. Tarhan expressed that "A sweet discipline is required in a family environment. The house needs to be a regulated environment. For example, the mother says it differently and the father says it differently. They cannot use a common language. In such cases, children are unable to balance what is right and what is wrong. For example, Sweden has taken a decision on the use of social media, it says that it will not be given to children until the age of two. After that, it was decided that until the age of fifteen, a child would be let to use a smartphone or television for two hours and a maximum of three hours. It is one of the places where there is the most freedom. Because we see a lot of bad consequences of this. In other words, it is necessary to acquire media literacy in order not to achieve these bad results. A person who displays themselves more than three times a day on social media is considered a narcissist. This is an epidemic among young people. That is, they have low self-esteem and are not happy, here they are fed with false praise. In youth, feelings dominate rather than reason. Therefore, when there are no good examples in the environment, children act with their emotions. They act on impulses with their feelings. They need helpful things to engage their minds, people who are role models. The general tension in society also has an impact on this. In other words, when there is a generally peaceful and calm environment in the society, people feel safe if they feel in justice.”

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Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)