Baby Boomer Drug Abuse Resonates With Listeners : NPR
[In late August] we talked about a disturbing report by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. […]
Now, at the close of that conversation, we asked our listeners to tell us more about how these findings might be playing out in their own lives, and folks reached out to us with very revealing and emotional stories […]:
“I am 38 years old. My dad is 58 years old, and he has been a functioning alcoholic/drug addict my entire life, and listening to your segment made my eyes open really wide. It’s very difficult for the children, but you know, as you grow older you start to accept people for how they are and you find a way to accept them on terms that you can deal with.”
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I just wrote a big research paper on the baby boomer generation (studying for my Master’s in Public Health), and the numbers are stifling. So many have been laid off and can’t find equitable work, they’re living longer than their parents, they’re divorcing 3 times more than their parents, they represent 40% of the workforce, they lost their retirement funds, there’s no money for their end-of-life health care, they abuse drugs more than any other generation, and their susceptibility to suicide increases by 35% once they get over 65 — regardless of history of mental illness.
Us, we’re in for a bumpy ride for the next 20+ years.
Thanks for that. While it’s a staggering trend, I find myself having a lot of hope, perhaps due to my personal exposure to a lot of it. It really drives home the importance of our country as a whole taking care of our elders; there are a whole host of causes, but I don’t think any one thing could be “blamed”.
Is your paper available anywhere for me to read? I’d be very interested.