When you think about older people drinking alcohol, so many misconceptions and stereotypes exist.  A new revealing study done by the school of medicine UCLA exposes much more about risky drinking by people 60 years old and older.  Many people assume that drinking an older age isn’t that much of a problem or that not much can be done. Read on to learn more about how older drinkers are at risk and what can be done to help them.

Many Factors Put Older People At Risk With Heavy Drinking

This fascinating study breaks down the risk factors in several ways. And of course, it’s so important to remember how much variety there is among people age 60 or older. Marital status, specific age, ethnic background, financial situation, gender, and health all matter when considering risky drinking behavior.

Older drinkers are much more likely to take a variety of medication. Some of these medicines can be dangerous when combined with alcohol.  also, certain health conditions can significantly worsen with heavy alcohol use, especially heart and liver conditions.  Some older drinkers were simply at risk because they drink alone, perhaps because they had been widowed or divorced. Older drinkers are also at great risk for injury because of more frail bones, worsened sense of balance, or weakened muscles.

More Information About Older Alcohol Drinkers

To expand the picture, let’s take a look at a few of the results from this study.  Caucasians were more than twice as likely to have risky drinking then Asians.  Ages 60 to 64 seemed to be particularly difficult, more than twice as risky as for a drinker 80 years or older.  Graduating from high school seemed to decrease in older persons chances for risky drinking by 2.5 times.

Another way to look at this: a 62-year-old Caucasian person that did not graduate from high school has a significantly higher chance for risky drinking then and 82-year-old Asian person who did graduate from high school. As you can see, the details of this study showed just how different older drinkers can be from each other.

Alcohol Rehab For The Older Drinker

Older people tend to be somewhat ignored when it comes to alcoholism. People often assume that symptoms associated with alcoholism are just a normal part of aging. Or, if grandma needs her two drinks every night to keep her from being angry, what’s the harm? The fact is, there’s a lot of harm to be done when this is left to continue unchecked.

Dangerous medication and alcohol combinations, falls, and accelerated disease can all shorten in a person’s life or dramatically impact their quality of life. No one wants this for their older relatives.  Fortunatley, alcoholism is definitely treatable for older people.

Family Support Helps An Older Person Needing Alcohol Treatment

Family support is so important for older person going through alcohol treatment. They themselves may doubt that anything could change, especially after so many years. But with family participation and encouragement, older people with at-risk drinking can improve and even save their lives by going alcohol treatment. If you need to get more information about helping an older loved one in your life, call and ask about alcohol treatment options today.

If you read the stories of five different alcoholics, would you think it all had a problem with alcohol? Your prejudices and stereotypes can make a difference when you try to identify who an alcoholic is. You may have someone in your life who drinks heavily, but you don’t think much of it because they don’t fit a certain definition or picture in your mind.  Maybe the heavy drinker is you and you are not aware of your own risk. If any of this sounds a little familiar to you, this is a blog post you can’t miss.

Alcohol Treatment Needed To Improve Life

Alcohol treatment is almost always needed improve a life of an active alcoholic.  Going cold turkey can work for a fraction of alcoholics, but most will need professional help. Also, many alcoholics will need help figuring out that they even need alcohol treatment. It’s so easy to excuse drinking behavior as normal or simply not understand how heavy drinking is impacting a person’s life.

The most dangerous thing is relying on narrow stereotypes to identify a heavy drinker. The loud rude drinker at the parties and family gatherings is only one type of alcoholic. Some alcoholics withdraw almost completely from socialize, except what might keep them from drawing suspicion. They go to just enough family gatherings to keep people from becoming alarmed. Other alcoholics may drink in complete secrecy.  They might make sure nobody sees them drink in any situation.

What Does Alcoholism Really Look Like

Just because a person hasn’t lost their job, gotten a DUI, gotten a divorce, or stolen money also doesn’t mean they don’t have alcoholism. They may be quite functional in many ways, at least on the surface. You would need to be able to see their life a little more closely to see how and when they are escaping reality.  Having one small drink after work or in the evening is one thing. Having four or five each night, or on most nights, creates a problem.

It isn’t even the drinking itself that matters so much. Why would they need to escape reality? Are they having some families stress? Financial problems? Is that person in a job they hate with few other outlets for feeling purpose in their life? Have they have a lot of adjustment lately or perhaps a chronic condition that has changed their quality of life?

Heavy Drinking Always Catches Up With Alcoholics

Eventually, a person’s heavy drinking will catch up with some. Even if they don’t get absolutely stumbling drunk most of the time, long term heavier drinking will eventually break the body down. Heart Disease, liver problems, blood vessel problems, and just overall general health will decline. There is always a price to pay, and it doesn’t always come at the beginning of a person’s alcoholism.

All Types Of Alcoholics Need Alcohol Treatment

When you notice someone’s drinking seems out of control or heavier than normal, it’s time to say something. Alcohol treatment can help, but only if that person understands they have some kind of problem. Could this be a loved one in your life with chronic declining health and a noticeable drinking habit? Could this be you, drinking away your evening and escaping the doldrums of everyday life?  Not all alcoholics sit into stereotypes. Learn about alcohol treatment and what it can do for you or someone you love before it’s too late.

When it comes to marriage, birds of a feather tend to flock together.  In other words, people often marry someone similar to themselves in background, interests, and socioeconomic standing.  This includes a risk or vulnerability to alcohol addiction.  But something rather unexpected happens when this risk is thrown into the marriage mix.  A study from 2007 explains how a married couple with risk of addiction can actually be a positive thing.

Research Shows Marriage Can Help Prevent Addiction in Both Spouses

Researchers don’t quite know why, but their 2007 study at the Washington School of Medicine in St Louis showed that two spouses with addiction risks didn’t necessarily both end up having addiction problems.  One would think that both people might be just as likely to become alcoholic, especially since they share the same living environment and overlapping social circles.

Whatever the case, this apparently positive influence is too important to ignore.  What might drive one spouse towards addiction while the other moves away from it?  How does that person buck their vulnerabilities and risk factors to make different choices with alcohol?  Does this happen equally among wives and husbands, or more for one gender?  And most importantly, how might this affect the addicted person being willing to go to alcohol treatment?  The relationship dynamics and individual personalities within a marriage create so many different possibilities. It may be challenging to figure out what really happens here.

Drug and alcohol addiction does so much damage to marriages and families around the world.  Communication worsens, emotional intimacy is lost, and isolation creates a cavernous distance between family members.  It makes one wonder what it might take for the one spouse to start turning away from drugs and alcohol despite their own risk for addiction.  Do they start to feel the emotional gulf widen before their addicted spouse?  Do they notice the behavior changes?  How do they perceive the way alcohol play into their own emotional pain so they turn away from it?  How else do they choose to cope with their spouses addiction aside from drugs and alcohol?

New Questions About Marriage And Drug Addiction

Obviously, there are many questions about how marriage and alcohol addiction work together.  This does give hope that some children of parents at risk for alcoholism may end up with at least one healthier parent.  Still, alcohol treatment may be an inevitable part of the picture.  There is still hope that after alcohol treatment, both spouses have a good chance of becoming healthy individuals with a more solid marriage.  The more researchers look into this phenomenon, the more they may be able to help spouses put their family back together after alcohol addiction pulls it apart.

Do you know how many people die every year from drug and alcohol related situations?  Over 120,000 per year across the United States because of drugs and alcohol.  That is like a small city being wiped out each and every year.  This kind of death toll costs society and families so much - emotional loss, money, and societal stress.  The case for considering drug and alcohol treatment has never been stronger.

People Lost Forever From Drugs And Alcohol

People who die from drugs and alcohol are lost forever, no way of getting them back.  It’s too big of a loss to overlook. The drug and alcohol treatment community is dedicated to providing better treatment and greater accessibility to people needing their services. Unfortunately, it’s not just up professionals to turn this situation around.

This is a prime example of the old cliché about leading a horse to water but not making it drink.  Even when people attend drug and alcohol treatment, relapse is not uncommon. It is a fairly normal part of drug addiction recovery. However, damage can still be done. It is up to each addicted person to find motivation for pursuing sobriety.  It simply can’t be forced.

Complexities Of Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Drug and alcohol addiction is such a complex problem. Law enforcement is usually focused on reducing the drug supply to their communities. While this can certainly be helpful, that’s not the only source of trouble. The unfortunate truth is that the human race never seems to run out of emotional pain. For some families, the cycles of dysfunction are deep and ingrained.  Tiny babies born with so much potential and innocence often end up following the patterns of their family members. Even those who attempt to escape them have scars.

In many cases, drug addiction and alcoholism is passed on through generations. Some of this may be biological vulnerabilities, but in many cases is simply the generational transfer of emotional pain. When that pain becomes too great, human beings will try many things to survive. Some people reach out in ways that truly help them.  But for those vulnerable to addiction, the solution seems obvious. Drugs and alcohol become the unavoidable coping mechanism of choice.

Change The Future - Break The Cycle With Drug Treatment

You may be in a position to help break the cycle. If you know you have a problem with drug and alcohol, this is your chance to stand up and take it a step in a different direction.  Going to drug and alcohol treatment can change not only your life, but the lives of generations to come. And if you see someone you know with the struggle, you may be able to help them take that step. Don’t delay, consider starting drug and alcohol treatment today.

May people consider alcoholism to be a problem just with an individual, not so much with society.  However, it’s important to understand that human beings are born to be social creatures. People don’t make decisions in a vacuum, particularly about things they do in social settings. Ultimately, people like to know that they belong to a group. Any behavior or choice that could help them stay connected can affect the decisions they make. Take a closer look at how this influence can alter someone’s drinking habits and put them at risk for alcoholism.

Study Shows Influence of Social Group With Alcohol Consumption

A recent study done at Harvard University took a examined how much influence social connections had on a person’s likelihood to drink heavily. As you might expect, the most directly connected people had the highest influence, such as a personal friend. But even people up to 3 degrees of separation (friend of a friend of a friend) still has some effect.

Let’s explore this concept one step further.  It’s not just about whether that individual person wants to drink because of their own ideas or desires. Their choice to drink excessively becomes part of the group activity.  They are more likely to go along with what their social network is doing as a part of staying identified with them.  There is a sense of social permission within the group, and even possibly an expectation of drinking heavily.

Social Network Big Part Of Drinking Decisions

This absolutely illustrates why a person in alcoholism recovery needs to reevaluate their social network. Anyone who continues to allow or demonstrate heavy drinking while in their midst ultimately goes against the alcoholic’s greatest need, which is support for sobriety. Granted, recovering alcoholics cannot expect that no one will ever drink around them for the rest of their lives. However, recovery is the time for a reevaluation and rebuilding one’s support system in the healthiest way possible.

Recovering alcoholics are very likely to feel vulnerable after coming home from alcohol rehab. They may feel like many of their friends are off-limits, yet they don’t have many new connections.  Drug treatment alumni programs and involvement with support groups can keep a recovering alcoholic moving in the right direction. Sober support after alcohol rehab can keep any social influence more positive. In other words, don’t tempt the devil by keeping drinking friends around.

Restarting Social Network After Alcohol Treatment

Restarting a social network can be difficult. Recovering alcoholics can feel a mixed sense of loss while also feeling rejuvenation by meeting new people.  As the familiarity with social drinking habits is replaced with sober activities, this adjustment can get better. However, a person in recovery must never forget the powerful influence of their social network.  They can make the most of their work from  alcohol rehab by surrounding themselves with others who have a sober vision for their life. If you feel your social network puts you at risk for relapse, call today to get help and stay on track with your sobriety.

Steven Purcell is the former leader of Glasgow City Council and he recently quit his five-year position as council leader to go to drug and alcohol rehab. The most notable point made in the few short articles posted about his return trip home is only notable because it is something that rarely comes up in the United States press when celebrities, sports figures or politicians enter or leave drug rehab: privacy.

Privacy and Drug Rehab

Purcell’s lawyers have complained the local media’s interest in Purcell’s illness and recovery constitutes “harassment of a sick man.” Purcell’s reps reported that they requested the Press Complaints Commission to “remind newspapers of their responsibilities to respect privacy.”

While his advisers claimed that stress was the reason why Purcell left his position, Purcell’s lawyers asked the council not to talk about the (other? real?) reasons for his resignation.

In the United States, HIPAA laws prevent medical treatment facilities like drug rehab centers from releasing private information about a patient and their recovery. Even their presence cannot be officially divulged, past or current. The media, on the other hand, has a way of ferreting out unofficial sources that can often be more damaging to the individual than the truth.

For private citizens (i.e., non celebrities or public figures), you don’t have to worry about the paparazzi digging around in your garbage cans or paying off your babysitter to find out more information about you. You can rest knowing that the your privacy is legally protected and that no one can call looking for you or to find out any information about you.

Purcell’s Job: How Rehab Affects Life

Jack Irvine is the former council leader’s spokesman. He says: “Councillor Steven Purcell is no longer a patient in Castle Craig Hospital. Councillor Purcell is recuperating with family and he asks the media to allow him time and space to recover to full health.”

Though Purcell is out of rehab, he won’t be returning to his former job. His former deputy, Councillor Jim Coleman, has taken his place and won’t be giving it back to Purcell despite the fact that Purcell was considered someone to watch in the Scotland’s Labour party, potentially a future Labour leader at Holyrood or a possible MP.

For many, this is an issue: you have to leave work to get the help you need. For many, that job won’t be waiting for you when you return and whether it’s a career position you’ve worked hard for a wage earning job that supports your family, it’s difficult to give up employment.

Can Drug Rehab Hurt Your Life?

With the threat of others intruding into your privacy at drug rehab or spreading rumors about your drug history as well as the possibly impact on your career and work life, many are left wondering if drug rehab is indeed the way to improve your life.

The short answer to that is that when drug addiction is an issue, it’s only a matter of time before everyone knows if they don’t already. Chances are, you aren’t hiding it as well as you think. And at work, if you still have a job, your drug addiction is already affecting your performance, if not your work relationships. The truth is: getting the help you need at a drug rehab means that your personal relationships and your work like will only improve.

Making resolutions is a big part of new year’s. A new year, a fresh start and a chance to mend or bypass the mistakes of the last year with new goals and hopes for the future. For those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, drug rehab plays a big part in those plans and resolutions for the new year. Should drug and alcohol rehab be the next step for you or your loved one in the new year?

Drug Rehab: Is it Necessary?

In most cases, if you are seriously contemplating drug and alcohol rehab, there is a need for it. A medical treatment, it is necessary in cases where you have a psychological and physical dependence upon a particular drug or drugs. If you have tried to quit using your drug of choice and have not had any success maintaining abstinence for any length of time, drug rehab is necessary. If you have health problems and your doctor has told you that you need to stop using your drug of choice and yet you cannot, then drug rehab is necessary. If you know that your opportunities, your future and your reputation are being impaired by drugs and alcohol and you want to stop but can’t do it alone, then drug rehab is necessary.

Drug Rehab: How To Help a Loved One

If your concerns are not for yourself and your use of drugs and alcohol but the abuse of addictive substances by a family member or someone you love, then the same “tests” listed above apply. If you are having a hard time telling whether or not your loved one is having issues with drug abuse or drug addiction, apply the parameters listed above to their circumstances. If they are often under the influence or choose where or what they’ll do based on their ability to remain under the influence, if they lie about their drug use or deny the problem, if they have tried to get clean and sober or promised to stop using without success multiple times, then it is likely that drug rehab is a good new year’s plan for them, too.

The difference in this situation is that you may need to perform an intervention in order to help them understand that drug rehab is necessary. If you would like help staging an intervention for someone you care about, a professional interventionist can help.

Drug Rehab: Is Now the Time?

If you or someone you love is living the life of an active addict, then now is the time for drug rehab. Like any medical treatment for other chronic diseases, the sooner you get treatment and the more comprehensive that treatment is, the more likely you will be to succeed. If you would like to learn more about the drug and alcohol detox and addiction treatment programs at Michael’s House, contact us today for more information.

Preventing relapse after you graduate from a drug and alcohol rehab should be your primary goal. It is simultaneously the easiest time to keep your focus on relapse prevention and the hardest. It is easy because you are just out of rehab with a great support network and fresh from all the experiences that landed you in rehab in the first place. You know exactly why you need to avoid drinking or getting loaded, and you’ve just learned all the tools you need to remain clean and sober. On the other hand, it’s hard because you’re just out of rehab and have a world of things to do in terms of getting your life together and starting over.

Preventing Relapse After Drug Rehab: Set Reasonable and Achievable Goals

Your primary goal is not to pick up and use or drink. It’s far too overwhelming to wake up in the morning and think, “I will never use drugs or drink again.” Vague absolutes like “never” or “forever” are only going to cause you to panic and feel like you won’t be able to succeed. Rather, say to yourself, “I won’t drink or get loaded today.” And then set yourself another, accomplishable task. This could be extremely basic: Make your bed. Eat a healthy breakfast. Go for a run. Or it could be a little bit bigger: Update or create a resume.

For bigger tasks, you will need to create a list of smaller goals that will lead to you accomplishing the larger goal. For example, if “Find a job” is your larger goal, then your list of smaller goals might include: Update or create resume. Look at job listings on Craigslist. Apply for three jobs. Put together an interview outfit. Any one of those goals can be accomplished in one sitting, which will keep you from getting overwhelmed.

Preventing Relapse After Drug Rehab: Triggers

“Triggers” are a term for all those things that happen to you that make you want to drink or get loaded. While you can avoid some of them, some will be unavoidable. Perhaps a certain club makes you want to get loaded or seeing certain friends who use drugs makes you want to give up on being clean and give into your desire to get high. By simply avoiding these people and situations, you can avoid the pitfall of relapse.

Other triggers aren’t so easily sidestepped: emotions like anger or sadness, for example. When you’re used to numbing your emotions with pills and other drugs, it’s not so easy to find another way to make yourself feel better. During drug addiction recovery, however, you have the opportunity to change those behaviors and learn healthier ways to assuage your feelings until the urge to use passes. One healthy way is to pick one of those achievable goals described above and focus on that instead. Another is to call your sponsor or other supportive friends who can help you focus on the positive. Another way is to go to a meeting and stay with clean and sober people until the triggered feeling passes.

Do you have any advice for those who are trying to stay clean and sober after drug rehab?

It may not be your sister or your best friend, but maybe the cocaine addict, heroin addict, alcoholic or meth addict in your life is still close to you. You have watched them slowly, or quickly, hit that downward slide from drug abuser or recreational user to drug abuser to addict. You have commented, if jokingly, on how much they drink or get loaded. You may have gotten in fights with them about some of their questionable or dangerous actions under the influence. It’s clear to everyone who knows your friend that drugs and alcohol are a focus and a problem. Is it your responsibility to do anything about it?

Help a Friend with Addiction: Abandonment isn’t Necessary

If you haven’t done so, try talking to your friend seriously about the problem he or she has with drugs and alcohol. Point out a few concrete examples where his choice to get loaded or drunk hurt him or someone else. Let him know that you care about him and want him to get better, that you aren’t judging him for his behavior. Explain that you know that drug addiction is a disease and that it’s important to get help to stop.

Remember, it is dangerous for those with co-occurring medical disorders, obesity or a high dosage prescription painkiller addiction to detox without medical supervision. Do not recommend that your friend quit using cold turkey. It is essential that they go to a certified drug detox and addiction treatment facility to ensure their safety.

Help a Friend with Addiction: Talk to Someone Close to Them

If you feel that you may not be close enough emotionally to someone dealing with drug and alcohol addiction to be the one who begins the intervention process, then consider talking to someone who is. Their best friend, partner, spouse, or family member may have the same concerns that you do and want to do something about it. Choose someone who isn’t actively addicted to drugs and alcohol as well and approach the subject delicately. If the person you choose is in denial over the state of their loved one’s addiction, then you may be rewarded for your efforts with a hostile response. Don’t take it personally. Consider talking to someone else who is close to your friend or moving forward alone.

Help a Friend with Addiction: Stage an Intervention

If talking to your friend and those who are closer to him about his addiction does not work, consider staging an intervention. Gather together those who also want to help the addict in your life to heal. Have everyone speak briefly about events that prove your friend has a problem with drug and alcohol addiction. At the end of the process, invite your friend to immediately enter drug rehab. The person running the intervention should be responsible for finding a place in treatment for your friend to go to right away.

If you don’t feel comfortable running the intervention, you can engage the services of a professional interventionist. Call Michael’s House today for more information or to reserve a spot in our inpatient drug rehab for your friend.

The other day we posted about how relationships can hurt drug and alcohol addiction recovery. You get too involved in the relationship and stop focusing on what you need to do to get better and end up relapsing. Or you break up and you end up relapsing. Not good.

But someone pointed out to me that it’s not just the drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery that suffers; the relationship suffers, too. This is true. If you’ve ever been an addict in a relationship whether or not that person was an addict too or been with someone who was an addict, whether or not you were, then you know. Drug and alcohol addiction kills relationships, but drug and alcohol addiction recovery is bad for relationships as well.

New Relationships and Drug Addiction Treatment

Maybe you met each other at a meeting. Or maybe this is someone you knew when you were actively using, and you ran into each other and realized that you’re both doing well at the same time. Either way, there’s an attraction, a spark. You decided to follow through. Maybe not overtly-no one formally asked the other one out-but you ended up hanging out, getting coffee, et cetera. And soon it’s clear that there’s a romance happening.

The amount of clean time that either person has may or may not be a factor, since people who have been clean for five or 15 years are just as prone to relapse behind a relationship just like anyone else. If you’re new to recovery, handling the heavy emotions that come with relationships without drugs and alcohol as a buffer is a new concept. The emotional stress associated may be too much to handle and if you’re new to recovery, there are likely a dozen more productive and positive ways to spend your time that will build up your recovery and not risk tearing it down.

Old Relationships and Drug Addiction Treatment

Maybe you two used to use together, and now want to get clean together. Maybe your partner never used more than recreationally and you’re getting clean on your own. Either way, your choice to go through drug and alcohol addiction treatment has to be one that you make for yourself because, invariably, no matter how much you love your partner, the two of you will have issues during your drug addiction treatment due to the high stress and emotions that characterize recovery. Plus, more than likely, your partner won’t be shy about letting you know-repeatedly-everything you did to hurt him or her while you were using. It can be discouraging and even depressing to stay in the relationship, but during drug and alcohol treatment, it may also feel like the safest port available to you.

Your Lover is Not Your Doctor

Or your sponsor. Or your shrink. Or your priest. Or your parent. It’s hard to find the line of appropriate emotional sharing, especially when both drug treatment and a new relationship present you with such raw unfamiliar emotions. Do you just not tell your partner when you feel like drinking or getting high? What if you go to the same 12 step meetings? Know the same people? Will your partner’s response trigger resentment in you? Or something worse, like feelings of inadequacy?

What do you think? Do new relationships have a shot during drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery? Can old relationships survive the transition?