Drug & Alcohol Rehab for Seniors

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We don't customarily consider that there is much of a need for drug and alcohol rehab for seniors, but the reality of senior drug and alcohol abuse requires us to shift our thinking, and get more seniors the help they need for what is becoming a growing societal problem.

Although the proportion of seniors in drug and alcohol rehab remains relatively low, this does not accurately reflect the level of drug and alcohol abuse amongst seniors. Tragically, seniors abusing drugs or alcohol, although desperately in need of rehab or other treatments, are statistically the least likely to be offered the assistance they need.

Seniors are the least likely to seek out treatment on their own, medical professionals are far less likely to appropriately diagnose abuse when it occurs, and family and friends remain reluctant to get involved, erroneously thinking that at such a late stage in life, nothing can really be done.

The fact is though that seniors respond very well to drug and alcohol rehab programs, and actually have a better success rate than the general population; and since the effects of drug and alcohol abuse are particularly damaging on the frailer bodies of the elderly, it is imperative that drug and alcohol abusing seniors get the rehab treatment they need.