Drug addiction has increasingly become one of the major societal challenges in today’s world. The problem is caused by a variety of factors that influence the vulnerability of different people. While the environment, personality, education standards, economic status, and family relations are critical determinants of substance abuse, age also plays a significant role in individual susceptibility.
In leading and accredited drug and alcohol treatment facilities, understanding the onset of addiction in an individual helps set an effective recovery plan. Many addictive tendencies have been shown through research to have a strong link to a user’s age. The linking factors of substance abuse and age typically show that addiction begins at a young age with the potential of total dependence in adulthood.
Addiction and Age
During adolescent and young adulthood years, many people may try experimenting with recreational drugs or illicit substances. However, in adults and the elderly, addiction arising from prescription drugs and alcohol dependence is more prevalent. Adults in the United States have the highest rates of drug-related disorders. Evidently, without prompt and proper rehabilitation processes, drug addiction or dependence will keep increasing with age. It is also further shown by a significant percentage of children living with parents with alcohol addiction.
Causes of Increase in Addiction with Age
Occasional drug abuse in young people, especially adolescents, stems from peer pressure or family-related problems. This can grow to total dependence in later years. But, the increase in addiction with age may take a different dimension. The changes in our bodies as we grow older impact how we react to different situations in life and the world around us.
Changes in hormones, lifestyle, career, and health can alter how we face certain situations in life.
Our reaction to psychologically related issues as we age, such as depression, anxiety, boredom, fear, and loneliness, can differ from younger adults. The elderly are more likely to address such situations through drug or alcohol dependence solidifying the state of addiction.
Tackling the causes of addiction increase with age can be achieved through most treatment programs. But establishing the age linking factor should be a top priority in developing a reliable and effective recovery plan. To further understand how addiction increases with age, it’s vital to identify the physical and social changes that escalate vulnerability to substance abuse and address them accordingly.
Also, substance misuse with age increase is commonly confined and scales down to alcohol and prescription drugs than illicit drugs in younger people. Although drug addiction affects people of all ages, illegal substance abuse rises with age with peaks at around 18 to 20 years of age. Elderly individuals dealing with increasing substance addiction may have developed the problems at a young age or in later years following the causes mentioned earlier among senior citizens. This trend categorizes addiction with age increase into two. One category is people already in drug abuse for many years called hardy survivors and are now over 65. A second category is a group of people with late-onset addiction. This is substance dependence that begins later in life.
Regardless of the age and the addiction intensity, if you or your loved one is struggling with substance abuse, there is help at hand. America’s Rehab Campuses will help you begin recovery with evidence-based treatments and other necessary rehabilitation facilities.
