I’m not sure what there is to clarify. We don’t and never could have causational studies because jamming kids full of caffeine is kind of unethical, but yes, there are studies showing correlation between caffeine intake in teens and suicidality. And I think trying to reduce energy drink consumption as part of effort to reduce that likely harm is a good move, yes.
People self-medicating with things that are easily available is incredibly common. That’s a major reason for why people pick up smoking as a habit: people try it and most people bounce off it, but for some people it (poorly) medicates some undiagnosed or untreated mental health problem so they start using it until they’re also chemically addicted to nicotine and have firmly connected consuming nicotine with feeling less bad in their brains. With that understanding, how is it not abundantly clear that there’s going to be a correlation between consuming easily available, unregulated stimulants and things that are comorbidities with ADHD or are otherwise at least partially alleviated by even a mild stimulant like caffeine?
You can do longitudonal studies but it’s very hard. You can also withdrawal caffeine and see if people get better. It is irresponsible to make sweeping policy changes on correlations alone. Consider, basically everyone with schizophrenia smokes, smoking doesn’t cause schizophrenia. People are solving some problem, even if not in the best way. Withdrawing the drug without offering some other treatment is likely counterproductive.
If people felt shit and didn’t sleep much or slept too much (both defining symptoms of depression) I would absolutely expect them to reach for a stimulant to help them. I would not also necessarily expect removing the stimulant to help.
Also kids with unmedicated adhd often overuse the shit out of caffeine because they can’t function otherwise. Undiagnosed adhd is significant cause of depression and anxiety.
I’m not sure what there is to clarify. We don’t and never could have causational studies because jamming kids full of caffeine is kind of unethical, but yes, there are studies showing correlation between caffeine intake in teens and suicidality. And I think trying to reduce energy drink consumption as part of effort to reduce that likely harm is a good move, yes.
FWIW -
Adolescents with high caffeine intake have ~67% more sleep problems.
Energy drinks in adolescents are correlated with anxiety, stress, depression and suicidality
People self-medicating with things that are easily available is incredibly common. That’s a major reason for why people pick up smoking as a habit: people try it and most people bounce off it, but for some people it (poorly) medicates some undiagnosed or untreated mental health problem so they start using it until they’re also chemically addicted to nicotine and have firmly connected consuming nicotine with feeling less bad in their brains. With that understanding, how is it not abundantly clear that there’s going to be a correlation between consuming easily available, unregulated stimulants and things that are comorbidities with ADHD or are otherwise at least partially alleviated by even a mild stimulant like caffeine?
You can do longitudonal studies but it’s very hard. You can also withdrawal caffeine and see if people get better. It is irresponsible to make sweeping policy changes on correlations alone. Consider, basically everyone with schizophrenia smokes, smoking doesn’t cause schizophrenia. People are solving some problem, even if not in the best way. Withdrawing the drug without offering some other treatment is likely counterproductive.
If people felt shit and didn’t sleep much or slept too much (both defining symptoms of depression) I would absolutely expect them to reach for a stimulant to help them. I would not also necessarily expect removing the stimulant to help.
Also kids with unmedicated adhd often overuse the shit out of caffeine because they can’t function otherwise. Undiagnosed adhd is significant cause of depression and anxiety.