engleski

Addictions in the elderly people

Abuse of psychoactive substances, especially alcohol and prescription drugs, in people over the age of 60 is one of the fastest growing health problems and is described by many authors as an “emerging epidemic”. Although the number of elderly people suffering from these disorders is increasing, the sit uation related to this issue remains underestimated, insufficiently identified, under-diagnosed, and thus insufficiently treated. The causes of increased consumption of psycho active substances in the elderly population can be numerous (demographic, previous tendency to take psychoactive substances, cultural, economic, emotional, etc.). The most common problems are certainly alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence, which cause in the elderly people the development of other mental (depression, dementia) and numer ous physical (stroke, cardiovascular problems, heart and malignant disease) disorders. Of the other psy choactive substances, the elderly most commonly use benzodiazepines, sedative-hypnotics, opiate painkillers, while the use of illegal psychoactive sub stances is limited to a small group of older criminals and long-term heroin addicts. The formal diagnosis of these disorders is made on the basis of current valid classifications, although there are large dif ferences in diagnostic criteria. In everyday clinical work, various measuring instruments are used for interviewing and screening of these disorders, and laboratory tests can be of great benefit in diagnos tics. The reasons in this population for not seeking pro fessional help are often the condemnation of the elderly for such behavior and the shame associated with the abuse of psychoactive substances by both family members and society as a whole. Treatment of the elderly shows good, even better results com pared to younger people, although they are less likely to seek and attend treatment due to stigma and shame, social isolation, and failure to recognize the problem. Medical professionals dealing with the problem of addiction, psychiatrists dealing with geriatrics and family physicians should jointly seek adequate instruments for screening and diagnosing these dis orders and develop multidisciplinary treatment for this vulnerabile population.

alcohol ; diagnostics ; elderly people ; legal and illegal psychoactive substances ; treatment

nije evidentirano