ABSTRACT
Addiction is an excess, a reinforcing compulsion, an inability to control dependency behavior and attitudes that can be harmful or beneficial. Overall substance abuse treatment and interventions do not typically focus on older adults. In addition, rural, residential treatment is becoming more available but tends not to tailor services for older adults seeking addictions treatment. Consequently, addiction treatment is limited for older adults, particularly rural older adults, since there are fewer addiction treatment programs in rural areas. However, there are exceptions including both print and media drug company ads, which develop and reinforce the need for older adults to use medications that are prescribed by a physician or purchased over the counter to ease a variety of disorders including pain. Clearly, there is a need for not only developing and evaluating novel prevention interventions but also specialized, targeted education and training for treating addictions among rural older adults.
