ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE IN WOMEN: THЕ ROLE OF THE RETIREMENT AGE
The urgency of alcohol dependence issues in the elderly is due to a number of their specific biological, clinical and social characteristics. Specialists distinguish two "types" of alcoholism that require different amounts of therapy: "elderly alcoholism" in patients which crossed their retirement age, with a long history of the disease, and "alcoholism at the elderly age” in patients with the onset of the disease at retirement age. The study showed that retirement age itself does not play a decisive role as an isolated factor in an unfavorable clinical course of alcoholism, but it accelerates the development of an initial stage of addiction. Women of retirement age become more vulnerable to external negative influences and more sensitive to the toxic effects of ethanol. The actual condition of mental, somatic, neurological and social spheres of a woman at a particular age period of her life is the most important parameter for complete restoration of her psychophysical and social functioning.