Substance Abuse and Addiction in the Elderly Adults
Question
The assignment (number 2 Literature Review) is a continuation of assignment 1, which I've included with a copy and what the paper lacked. The subject is Substance abuse , addiction within the elderly population


Solution
Substance
Abuse and Addiction in the Elderly Adults
Substance abuse and alcohol were for
a long time considered issues of young people due to high rates of use among
younger adults. As a result, substance abuse among seniors is often disregarded
and considered a misconception. There exist limited evidence and insufficient
knowledge regarding the impacts of drugs abuse among older people. However,
today, substance abuse among the elderly is among the fasted growing trends in
the United States.
According to Choi & DiNitto
(2021), alcohol and abuse of prescription drugs are estimated to affect more
than 17% of people who are sixty years and above in America today. A national
survey done in 2009 showed that a quarter of prescription drugs that are sold
in the United States are intended for senior citizens. The prevalence of abuse
of these prescription drugs has risen to as high as 14% (Kim et al., 2021). In
addition, it has been established that the elderly population has the highest
inpatient substance abuse admissions where most of these abused substances are
stimulants and other hard drugs such as cocaine.
One surprising fact about substance
abuse among the elderly is that widowers mostly those over 75 years old have
been found to have the highest alcoholism rates in America. Additionally,
hospitalization for older adults has become a common occurrence. Surprisingly,
about 11% of these admissions are a result of substance abuse and alcoholism
(Kim et al., 2021). Moreover, more than 30% of senior citizens use prescription
medications considered to have a higher abuse and addiction potential (Kim et
al., 2021). Elderly people have a high likelihood of having long-term
psychoactive prescription drugs which they subsequently find themselves
addicted to.
Older people who engage in substance
abuse are likely to have a history of drug abuse and mental health issues.
Early-onset of drugs and alcoholism addiction occurs to individuals who were
already abusing drugs before they were 60 years old and never quit (Stelander
et al., 2021). Hence, such individuals are considered to have been life-long
addicts or people who could have tried a particular recovered but relapsed.
On the other hand, late on-set
addiction occurs to situational elderly people who abuse drugs and, in most
cases, these people spend the better part of their early years avoiding drugs
only to commence abusing them in their later years. Usually, this group is
largely comprised of individuals who have been struggling with various mental
and physical challenges and may be searching for strategies to help them
meditate (Stelander et al., 2021). Study shows that older people who fall into
the late on-set addiction tend to have physical and mental health considering
that they have not abused drugs for long. Nonetheless, every category has its
own challenges and struggles when it comes to recovery.
Just like younger people who find
themselves abusing drugs and in alcoholism due to peer pressure, older adults
have their reasons too. Health-related issues force old people to start taking
prescription medicines which some abuse later on. Also, to some people's life,
circumstances may take an emotional toll on them and they start using drugs as
a way of coping only to become addicted in the future (Choi & DiNitto,
2021). Other possible triggers include mental and physical health decline,
death of a spouse, and retirement which lead to feeling bored and unhappy with
where someone is in life.
Older adults are at an increased risk
considering that they are more susceptible to the side effects caused by
alcoholism and substance abuse. Additionally, there is very little awareness of
the topic of substance abuse among senior citizens and more often than not
problems resulting from alcohol and drug use are misdiagnosed as other
complications brought about by old age.
References
Choi, N. G., &
DiNitto, D. M. (2021). Alcohol use disorder and treatment receipt among
individuals aged 50 years and older: Other substance use and psychiatric
correlates. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 131,
108445.
Kim, Y., Kim, K., Chartier,
K. G., Wike, T. L., & McDonald, S. E. (2021). Adverse childhood experience
patterns, major depressive disorder, and substance use disorder in older
adults. Aging & Mental Health, 25(3), 484-491.
Stelander, L. T., Høye,
A., Bramness, J. G., Selbæk, G., Lunde, L. H., Wynn, R., & Grønli, O. K.
(2021). The changing alcohol drinking patterns among older adults show that
women are closing the gender gap in more frequent drinking: the Tromsø study,
1994–2016. Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 16(1),
1-12.




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