Public Education

Looks as if New York will be setting up playgrounds specifically for use by older adults: NYC Seniors Get Their Own Playground. Neat idea!

"This Emotional Life" is a 3-part series that aired for the first time on PBS this week.

Hosted by Daniel Gilbert, a social psychologist at Harvard and author of "Stumbling on Happiness," the series did a nice job of explaining some pretty sophisticated psychological concepts, using cutting-edge research and interviews with a diverse group of individuals.

Part 1 focused on social connections and their impact on human
emotion. Part 2 explored different human emotions from anger to anxiety
to despair.  Part 3 dealt with various aspects of happiness, including socioemotional selectivity theory. 

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."

In my Psychology of Aging II class the semester, we've been learning about late-life development as well as common concepts of "successful" aging. I'm always interested in learning about older adults who defy the dreary stereotypes of late life and seem to be aging well. This story about the oldest college basketball player ever is one example of a remarkable senior who is doing just that.

Caregivers of people with dementia have to make countless decisions throughout their caregiving career. One of the decisions that isn't frequently discussed is how to assist a care recipient with the process of voting. The Alzheimer's Association has posted an article with points for caregivers to consider and tips for facilitating the vote of someone with dementia.

My first official publication came out this week in a local newspaper for seniors, Life After 50 (November 2008 issue, pg. 19). The article addressed several misconceptions about psychotherapy, what to expect during therapy, and some reasons for why older adults seek therapy. The benefits of therapy can include increased quality of life and sense of emotional well-being for individuals at any age.

National Family Caregivers Month, organized by the National Family Caregivers Association, is "designated as a time of year to thank, support, educate, and empower family caregivers." This year's theme encourages caregivers to speak up for their rights.

For interesting facts about caregiving, see Selected Caregiver Statistics on the Family Caregiver Alliance website.

The New York Times had an interesting article today about the detrimental impact that "elderspeak" has on older adults.

One form of elderspeak includes belittling an older adult by calling him or her "sweetie" or "dear." When I hear someone use these terms with an older adult, it conveys the message that the person using the terms views the senior as cute and/or docile and, basically, on the same intellectual level as a child.

Another form of elderspeak includes ignoring the older adult altogether and asking his or her companion questions they are perfectly able to answer (e.g., what they'd like to eat for lunch). I experienced this as a master's student in my fieldwork placement. An older woman fell on her way into the senior center and I was asked to accompany her to the urgent care clinic. When we arrived, the nurse began asking me questions about the woman's condition, even though the older woman was completely lucid (and I had known her for about 20 minutes!). 

Click here to read about similar experiences of others and how they've dealt with them.

In the U.S., older adults have a disproportionally high rate of completed suicide as compared to the general population, with white men over the age of 85 being at greatest risk (National Center for Health Statistics, 2007). The state of Colorado has similar trends (The Colorado Trust, 2002). Compared with other age groups, older adults are more likely to use firearms as their choice of suicide method, which more often results in death (Steffens & Blazer, 1998).

As mental health practitioners and researchers, we typically focus on the psychosocial cause(s) of suicide, usually associated with the presence of risk factors, to guide our suicide prevention interventions. In reviewing the literature for my thesis, I discovered the general consensus that suicidal individuals are poor problem-solvers; that is, they tend to see one solution, and one solution only, to their problems.

However, a recent article in the New York Times ("The Urge to End It All"), highlighted the importance of focusing on the method of suicide in prevention efforts. By simply creating physical barriers to suicide, the risk of completed suicide can be mitigated. Ironically, this may be due in part to the poor problem-solving abilities of those who attempt suicide. If an obstacle is put in the way (e.g., keeping guns in a locked case or putting some time in-between the thought and the act), the individual is less likely to go through with it.

If you (or somebody you know) are suicidal, the best thing to do is call 911 or a suicide prevention hotline (like 1-800-273-TALK) or go to the nearest emergency room.