Addicted Seniors

Most of the articles in the news are about drug and alcohol education programs, treatment programs, arrests, and deaths. It seems there is a whole industry devoted to stopping teens from starting down this path, and for good reasons.

So it might come as a surprise to some of us that there has been an increase in the number of people over the age of 50 who have developed these problems later in life. Between 1992 and 2008, the number of those being treated in the U.S. has more than doubled. But why?

One reason is that the “baby boomers” generation is getting old, and there are a lot of them: thus the statistics would logically grow. Another reason is that fewer people know how to deal with grief. People who have thus far managed their lives pretty well face difficulties in their 40’s and 50’s which they aren’t able to cope with. "I retired, I started drinking more," one man said. "I lost my father, my mother, my dog, and it gave me a good excuse," said another.

Peter Provet is the head of Odyssey House in New York, which is a center that offers specialized substance abuse treatment for senior citizens. He commented that, “There is a level of societal denial around the issue. No one wants to look at their grandparent, no one wants to think about their grandparent or their elderly parent, and see that person as an addict."

According to the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, older adults accounted for one-eighth of those addicts seeking help in 2008. That’s 231,200 people over the age of 50. In fact, while the number of people that age only increased by 21 percent, the number of people coming into treatment increased by 70 percent. Some experts see this as a result of the fact that a number of boomers started their drug habits back in their 20’s and it just came to a head later in life.

Not all treatment centers treat the seniors separately, dealing with their different problems, but some do. Some don’t see a point in helping them since they are older and not going to live as long. But Provet dismisses that thinking, pointing out that there was an 85 percent completion rate at Odyssey House among the seniors last year. "It's almost as if they say, 'This now is my last shot. Let me see if I can get my life right finally,'" he said.

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