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I’m Still Here: Engagement as Treatment for Dementia
A few years ago, I was conducting training for staff in a long-term care facility in Australia. It was a two-day training program, focusing on the use of the Montessori-based Activities Programming (MAP). I have been conducting research on the use of Montessori educational methods as a means of...
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Mental Health in The Elderly: Boomers Coming of Age
According to the National Institute for Mental Health in England (2005), “The presence of Mental Health problems [for the elderly], is a strong independent predictor of poor outcomes, such as increased mortality, length of stay, institutionalism, and resource use.” In North America an...
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Barriers to Accessing Mental Health Care for Older Persons with Depression
Early in my career, I took my oldest daughter to her first dentist appointment. Making small talk, the dentist asked me what I do. I told her about my research on barriers to care, the stigma surrounding mental illness and interventions to improve treatment participation for older adults. As she...
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Senior Peers Provide Companionship to Homebound: New York City Program Addresses Social Isolation in Older Adults
Individuals of any age group benefit from being socially connected: having friends, outside activities and people to talk to. Older adults, especially those with a mental illness, potentially have more difficulty remaining connected because it is easier for them to gradually lose their social...
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Point of View – Paranoia Is a Barrier to Aging in the Community
Mrs. C lived alone in the apartment in which she and her husband had raised their children. She had always been a bit distrustful. The butcher put his thumb on the scale. A teacher had it in for a daughter who wasn’t doing well in school. But after her husband died, she became increasingly...
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Preparing Communities for The Elder Boom: Mental Health Matters
Happily, a number of efforts are now underway to prepare communities and the aging services system for the elder boom. Sadly, mental health doesn’t figure into most of them in any significant way despite the simple and obvious fact that you cannot age well without your mental health. The new...
