aging

I successfully defended my thesis last Friday. Although it was somewhat nervewracking, the meeting went really well. It felt more like a discussion than a presentation by the end and I got lots of good feedback and suggestions from my committee. The next step is to try to publish a journal article using the findings from the study.

The gist of the results is that problem- and emotion-focused coping appear to be adaptive, whereas dysfunctional coping appears to be somewhat less related to resilience to suicide. Implications of the study are that some coping strategies may serve as protective factors against suicide and coping strategies should be evaluated as part of a thorough assessment of at-risk older adults.

Thanks again to my committee for their guidance and to those who participated in the study.

Most of the time when we hear about Autism, we think about children. Surprisingly, or not, children with Autism grow up to be adults with Autism. I recently began a practicum rotation at The Resource Exchange (TRE) where I will be working with adults with developmental disabilities (DD). It has opened up a whole new world to me; the families of adults with DD face a lot of challenges that I've never considered before. This article in Time Magazine illustrates some of these challenges, written from the perspective of a sibling.

Summer is a great time to make a dent in the pile of books that I want to read, but never get a chance to throughout the academic year. In June, I read Dr. Irvin Yalom's most recent book, "Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death." Yes, this is the type of book I read for fun. :-)

The book outlines Yalom's approach to the universal issue of mortality, which is especially salient for many of the older adults we see at the CU Aging Center. Yalom is a gifted psychotherapist and writer who uses accessible language and several case examples to illustrate his points. Here are a few of the ideas I found most interesting:

- There is a "positive correlation between fear of death and the sense of unlived life" (p. 49).

- An "awakening experience" (p. 36) can jerk us out of the everyday mode of life to an ontological mode where we are more mindful of being. These experiences might include grief over the loss of someone important, a major life milestone, a life-threatening illness, etc.

- "Rippling" (p. 83) refers to the concept that we all leave behind something from our life experience (e.g., a piece of wisdom, guidance, comfort) that passes on to others, known or unknown.

The last third of the book gives advice to therapists on how to address death anxiety with their clients, but any reader would likely appreciate Yalom's words.

Yalom, I. D. (2008). Staring at the sun: Overcoming the terror of death. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Interesting opinion article on the training medical doctors receive for working with older adults. Much of the same can be said about the training that most psychologists obtain as students and interns.

Earlier this month I attended the second biannual Diversity and Aging conference in Chicago sponsored by AARP. The theme of the conference was "The Power of Inclusion." This conference had a much wider scope than most of the conferences I usually attend, with presentations ranging from identifying activities for people with dementia, to health literacy and access for immigrants and refugees, to marketing to 50+ diverse populations.

I was fortunate to be chosen as one of six graduate student Conference Fellows. As a Fellow, one of my tasks was to write a summary of the presentations I attended, which will be included in the conference proceedings. 

The next AARP Diversity and Aging conference will take place in 2011 in Washington, DC.

Today marked the end of the fifth and final Aging and Mental Health Conference, hosted by the Gerontology Center at UCCS. The topic of this year's conference was "Integrated Health Care for Older Adults." The conference co-chairs were Sara Honn Qualls, Ph.D. and Deborah King, Ph.D. of the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, NY.

Integrated mental health care essentially referrs to mental health services that are delivered in non-traditional settings, such as primary care clinics and long-term care facilities. This can make mental health services accessible to individuals who may not otherwise access mental health treatment because of barriers such as inadequate financial resources, stigma associated with mental health, and limited transportation. In a primary care clinic, for instance, the idea is that physical and mental health are treated together to help improve the quality of life of patients, breaking down the separation of body and mind that often exists in Western medicine.

The Alzheimer's Association has come out with a new easy-to-understand list for helping people to determine whether or not the memory problems they are experiencing may be due to Alzheimer's Disease. Each item on this list includes an example of what might suggest Alzheimer's and what might suggest typical changes that come with aging.

Beginning this Sunday, May 10th HBO is showing a series of documentaries called "The Alzheimer's Project." I haven't seen any of them yet, but I hear from colleagues on geropsychology listservs that they are "powerful and well produced."

Most people don't like thinking about, let alone actually planning for, the end of their lives. The legal aspects of end-of-life planning are confusing, even for those who think their wishes are clear (see How Clear Are Your Last Wishes). Fortunately, there are many resources on the web that can help to make the process more understandable. Here are a few to check out:

1) The Mayo Clinic: has definitions for living wills, advance directives, and treatment decisions that need to be made

2) Caring Connections: program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, has links to state-specific documents and information on how to talk with your loved ones

3) Five Wishes: a popular living will document with easy-to-understand language

Earlier this week, I gave a presentation at our local senior center that was designed for older men who are recently widowed or divorced. The purpose of the presentation was to discuss:

-relationships in later life
-what is "typical" after the loss of a spouse/partner
-how to decide whether you are ready to date again
-strategies for getting what you want.