Welcome to the simulation titled Artificial Perfection: Talking with Teens About Performance Enhancement. This is a transcript of the simulation designed for screenreaders.
In this simulation, a pediatric sports medicine specialist named Dr. Wornik tells us about appearance and performance enhancing substances, sometimes abbreviated APES. She describes their prevalence among adolescents, the dangers of using them, warning signs to be alert for, and conversation techniques to use when talking with teens.
There are four episodes in this simulation. The first is a brief overview about APES. The next three are each about a specific type of substance; in each of these episodes, Dr. Wornik shares information about that type of substance and then this transcript will show two example interactions between a patient and a pediatrician named Dr. Denke.
DR. WORNIK: How many patients in your practice abuse steroids or other appearance- or performance-enhancing drugs? If you’re about to say “none,” think again.
Imagine a high school class of one hundred students. On average, how many do you think have tried performance-enhancing drugs? Research shows that more than 12% of high school students abuse prescription stimulants as a cognitive enhancer, while between one and six percent abuse steroids and eleven percent have tried human growth hormone to enhance their appearance or athletic performance.
With numbers so high, most pediatricians do serve at least some patients who struggle with these dangerous drugs. But would you know the warning signs if you saw them? Taylor Hooton’s doctors didn’t.
Taylor was a happy, popular seventeen year old when he secretly began using steroids. In addition to bulking him up, the steroids made him moody, violent, and gave him a host of other physical symptoms including severe acne on his back, which is a common side effect of steroid use. His parents were desperate to know what was wrong, only to be told by his pediatrician that he had no physical illness and his drug screen came back clean. That isn’t surprising, since a standard drug panel doesn’t screen for steroids.
They took him to a dermatologist, but she only treated the acne, without questioning where it was from. They took him to a therapist, who eventually discovered the truth. With the best of intentions, she convinced Taylor to quit steroids cold turkey. But steroid withdrawal is a dangerous time. Weeks later, unable to cope with the staggering depression caused by hypogonadism, Taylor hung himself.
To help prevent future tragedies like Taylor’s, the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness of the American Academy of Pediatrics partnered with Kognito Interactive to produce this simulation. In this simulation, you will interact with virtual patients to learn more about the signs and symptoms of the dangerous appearance and performance enhancing substances -- or “APES” -- that are used by our youth.
As a pediatric sport medicine specialist, I see the incredible pressure my teen patients feel to be both beach-body beautiful and high-performing in academics and athletics. As your guide through this simulation, I will provide you with information and research about APES drugs, as well as strategies you can use to successfully discuss them with teens and their families. Because, even if they don’t hear about the dangers of these drugs from their parents and from us, we can be sure they’ll hear about the benefits from friends. And unless we have a better solution to offer, they won’t hesitate to keep pursuing perfection… whatever the consequence.