Next Avenue PBS Article on Alcohol Addiction quotes Rogers’ Dr. Miller on Addiction and Treatment

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, illicit drug use among the 50+ age group has more than doubled in the last decade. Baby boomers, as this crowd is often called, are using drugs or alcohol to cope with challenges like empty-nest syndrome, unemployment, retirement or even death of a loved one. “When people begin drinking heavily to deal with life stress, it can lead to addiction where there wasn’t any before” states Dr. Miller, Medical Director at Rogers Herrington Recovery Center. Miller goes on to explain that addiction isn’t just about drugs and alcohol, “It’s about your brain and how it responds.”

The article, entitled Beating Alcohol Addiction in Midlife continues, focusing on how one woman hit rock bottom in her mid-fifties. Alcohol became her mechanism for coping for an emptiness, or her lack of achieving the so-called ‘American Dream.’ The woman eventually entered a residential treatment program and more than a year later has “A whole new way of life.” Read the article in full here.