Curing drug addiction in senior citizens

Updated on March 20, 2021

You will never be happy to hear that someone in your family has a drug addiction. The news always comes with a sense of trauma and pain. And if it is a senior citizen with a drug addiction issue, the stakes are high. The body and mind change the way it used to function when it was young. And that is the reason why it becomes challenging to manage senior citizens with a drug addiction issue. Initially, it is good to address the issue at hand at home by talking with the aging family member. You can bring in the necessary medications and therapy. But if you see that things are going out of hand, you need to opt-in for an inpatient rehab center.

Generally, doctors and therapists suggest an inpatient rehab center to treat a senior citizen from an addiction issue. There are several reasons for that. 

Trained doctors and professionals

Family members may think that they understand the senior member better! But when it is about drug addiction, things change. The mind and heart have a different way of behaving around the issue, which only trained professionals can manage. Hence, it is necessary to join hands with an expert inpatient rehab center and admit senior citizens. Before doing that, you must speak about the same with the senior member. He or she shouldn’t feel that you are isolating them or are cornering them. That will worsen the problem, and they will become adamant about not getting admitted.

It would be best if you highlighted the advantages and comforts of being in an inpatient rehab in Missouri or any other place. It would be best if you also shared that you will be visiting them at regular intervals. Make them realize that they will get the comforts of a home in the rehab center and other amenities.  

People with the same goal

Thoughts of loneliness or being secluded often creeps in with age! And senior citizens are vulnerable to such ideas and thinking patterns. Hence, when you are trying to treat them at home, they might feel alienated or isolated from others around them. However, it will not be when they get admitted to an expert and specialized inpatient rehab center. The rehab units have a different way of treating senior citizens with a drug addiction issue. They usually keep them in a similar age group to bond with their fellow partners in the rehab and walk towards a path of betterment and recovery.

When you see people with the same problem around you, you don’t feel alone or left out. It makes the patient more hopeful about their recovery. There are group sharing activities that enhance the bonding between the patients, which creates a sense of fulfillment and happiness. And these emotions are essential in curing addiction to the core. Also, senior citizens can share their issues because others around them have the same mental wavelength.

Mental issues get addressed

Family members who’ve tried to understand the root cause of addiction get surprised to know the same reasons. Usually, the reasons hover around some loneliness, rejection, or old trauma; when patients get detected with depression and borderline bipolar disorder, they opt-in for drug addiction treatment at the rehab. 

Senior citizens with mental health issues need specialized care and therapy that family members can’t provide at home. And here the luxury rehabs come to fair use.  

The rehab professionals and doctors try to diagnose the mental issue and treat it along with drug addiction. For this, they often question the family members and the patient simultaneously. It becomes essential for them to know about the patient’s social, personal, and physical background. They review the past medical records and medicines consumed to realize anything that gave rise to the mental health issue. The rehab center also designs extracurricular activities for senior citizens that they will love to take part in and enjoy. It gradually heals them and makes them move away from drug addiction.  

Relapses are common when an inpatient rehab center is trying to treat senior citizens with an addiction problem. Some senior citizens have a fixed lifestyle and thought patterns that they are unwilling to change or modify. They become very agitated with any change of lifestyle modification that the rehab professional suggests. It gives rise to severe mood swings and withdrawals that can lead to relapses. It is essential to manage a relapse case with care and caution.

These are some of the reasons an inpatient rehab unit is best suited to treat senior citizens with a drug addiction problem. Here the professionals and therapists deal with the patient with both compassion and strictness as and when required. Also, they can read into the patient’s mindset and suggest better ways for improvement and change.

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