Originally Posted by alumni

It is great to see the number of recovering alcoholics represented here who are well past 50. I cleaned up from drugs and booze 10 years ago at age 60.
Since then I've seen literature and heard opinions from the treatment community discussing science which may support a theory that the older you are, the better your chances for sustained sobriety.
I'm clearly not a neuroscientist but my layman's understanding involves two components of neural circuitry: The pre-frontal cortex (PFC) and the HP adrenal (HPA) system. Activation of the HPA system can create motivation for actions of spontaneity/impulsivity. The "braking" mechanism on those impulses is the PFC, often called the rational or business center of the brain.
Younger humans have been found to have a generally less well-developed PFC. When your kid is caught throwing eggs at a teacher's house and asked why, the answer is usually, "I don't know." Because they very well might have no idea why.
As we age, the neural communication between the PFC and HPA (which is constant while we're awake) should become more balanced. We're not throwing eggs anymore but some of us are abusing substances even when we know it is unhealthy, destructive and dangerous.
When anyone discontinues that behavior and removes the substance, they face a future of maintaining the balance between what they really want to do (HPA activity) and what they really should do (PFC control).
The above-mentioned theory thus posits that the more well-developed the pre-frontal cortex becomes as we age, the better the odds for prolonged abstinence.
For whatever it's worth, my client observations of relapse rates over several years bears this out. Teens and 20's are almost always going to be a relapse problem. Age 50 and above average 30%+ clean for one year after initial detox/rehab/treatment.
The whole thing seems to make sense to me.