Linden Center to Host CEU Event on May 16
May 15, 2019
The statistics are staggering, the stories saddening.
Substance and alcohol abuse are a scourge on the American landscape, afflicting some 20 million people, with not quite 20 percent of them seeking treatment. And addiction is a rising problem among seniors as well.
With all that in mind, The Allure Group will hold another in a series of continuing-education seminars on May 16 at our Linden Center, “Substance and Alcohol Abuse.” It will be open to hospital and social workers, case managers and geriatric care managers.
The seminar, which also includes a dinner and spa event, will afford the Linden Center an opportunity to show off its new renovations.
According to statistics compiled by Americanaddictioncenters.org, somewhere between 19.7 million and 21.9 million people battled a substance abuse disorder in 2017; the precise number is not quite clear, given the fact that one in eight Americans struggled with multiple addictions.
That same site noted that only four million Americans — i.e., 19 percent of those afflicted — received treatment.
Over one million adults age 65 and above battled substance abuse in 2017, according to Americanaddictioncenters.org, with alcohol the most commonly abused of those substances.
According to Addictioncenter.com, seniors are more susceptible to alcohol abuse because their bodies don’t metabolize it as quickly as in their younger years, and their brains are increasingly sensitive to it. That same site mentions that identifying addiction among seniors is made more difficult by the fact that its symptoms mimic those of other disorders, whether physical or mental.
What is known is that seniors who fall prey to addiction can either be classified as “hardy survivors” (those who began abusing substances before they turned 65) or “late onset,” because they began abusing after they reached that age. Causes for abuse later in life include death of a loved one, placement in a nursing home or mental/physical health decline.
To RSVP to the event, please visit www.signatureeventsny.com.