Substance Abuse Among the Elderly

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the incidence of substance abuse among the elderly will continue to grow as the medical community continues to improve the length and quality of life. It looks at how, as the elderly age and begin to lose friends and develop their own health issues, it is important that they have plenty of resources available to them for the purpose of support. Doctors need to be careful about the number and type of prescriptions they are prescribing, and family members who suspect their elderly loved one is developing a substance abuse problem should seek help from professionals.

From the Paper:

"The senior wants to be numbed to the fact that they are losing their friends, getting closer to death and their quality of life may be reduced because of these factors. Those who drink to eliminate loneliness isolate themselves even further which causes the cycle to continue. Those who live in chronic pain can become addicted to the pain medications they are given and even when the pain subsides they have a craving to feel the numbness or the euphoria that the pills provide."

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