Drug addiction is a debilitating affliction that does not discriminate across age, size, or race. Even children below the legal age suffer from drug addiction, and though it’s hard to believe the truth, even the adults who are expected to be old and wise also endure this crippling disorder. In a metropolis as large as Houston, where drug options are widely available, it is hard to protect the people you love from temptations. Yet, there is hope even for the elderlies. Here’s what you can do:
Acknowledge The Problem
Oftentimes, drug addiction is associated with the young, wild, and free. After all, the teenage and emerging adulthood years are the periods for experimentation and heightened socialization. However, this is not to exempt the senior people entirely. They, too, have their emotional struggles that can lead to drug addiction.
A remarkable 4 million Americans who are above 50 years old were found to be associated with the use of illegal drugs or abuse of prescriptive drugs. This is practically almost 5% of the total population within the above 50 age bracket in 2009. In an article by John Hopkins Health, the number of elderly abusers of drugs is expected to increase by 2.7 million in 2020. The trend is alarming enough to understand the causes of elderly drug addiction.
The bottom line here: Do not deny the addiction problem when it arises nor blame your mom or grandfather entirely. It’s the situation, not the person. The sooner you accept, the sooner your loved one will recover from drug addiction.
Understand The Cause
Understanding what causes the addiction will help families address the need before it worsens. Substance abuse is the foremost cause. Senior people have maintenance medicines to alleviate their pain, calm their mood, or increase their vitality and productivity. These benefits overpower them to the point of disobeying the doctor’s prescription.
Furthermore, the elderlies are also prone to depression and isolation. The experiences of the empty nest phenomenon and integrity-versus-despair evaluation during the senior years are possible causes for unpleasant emotions. Knowing these root causes, you can encourage activities for your senior loved ones or involve them in your life so they feel significant and forget about drugs.
Seek Help
If the case goes out of control, you can always turn to the nearest drug rehabilitation center in Houston for help. Fortunately, there are hundreds of alcohol detox treatment in Sugarland clinics to choose from in Houston to address the need for elderly drug addiction. You only have to consider the following: age-specific treatments, flexibility in approaches, emergency response team, and holistic care (that is, a mind-body-soul approach to treatment). Some senior patients may refuse to avail of an in-patient treatment, so you can look for a center that allows off-base treatment. After all, a strong family and community support will increase the patient’s feeling of belongingness and thus speed up the recovery.
There is still hope for the senior patients. Do not be tempted to believe that sending off an elderly loved one to a center is a waste of money. Life, at any stage, is always worth saving. More so, do not delay in getting help. The older you get, the slower your metabolism becomes. As such, a pea-sized amount of heroine or any drug in senior adults can do more harm than on younger people.