Caring for someone who has dementia is a uniquely stressful experience. The person may be forgetful, engage in bizarre behavior, have trouble speaking, become incontinent, fall, and have trouble eating, dressing, or bathing. He or she may even forget who you are — which can be particularly distressing for family members. Caregivers and family members […]
As studies of brain health and aging focus and evolve, the term “Mild Cognitive Impairment,” or MCI, is frequently bandied about by doctors and other care providers—and often without much explanation. MCI, also referred to as “Major Neurocognitive Disorder is basically a transitional state straddling the area between normal aging and dementia. Many conditions can […]
Many people tend to have a relationship with food and eating characterized by a familiar problem: overconsumption. This is particularly true in the United States. Weight gain caused by overeating can lead to a whole host of preventable diseases that can haunt people in later life—including diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. (See The Looming Long Term […]
At any given time, I’m typically involved in planning training for healthcare staff on one topic or another. One of the projects I’m currently working on is teaching staff some of the basics of motivational interviewing (MI). MI is considered a form of nondirective psychotherapy, originally conceptualized and piloted for use with problem drinkers, and […]
Geropsychology is “the specialized field of psychology concerned with the psychological, behavioral, biological, and social aspects of aging,” with clinical geropsychology (which is what I do) as the applied version of this field. Geropsychology is a fairly new specialty, only recently recognized by the American Board of Professional Psychology (or ABPP) as a bona-fide discipline, […]
Updated August 2025 As I’ve said for years, the world is poised on the precipice of what could be called a demographic tsumani. Cogitate on these numbers for a moment: Obviously, these numbers have huge implications. I’ve been seeing projections like these looming for years, way back when I started my career in geriatrics in […]
Let’s talk about sunshine and the incredible role that it plays in our well-being. Older adults, particularly nursing home residents, tend to get less of it than younger adults, but everyone needs it and many of us don’t get enough of it. While sun exposure has its risks, such as skin cancer, it also provides […]
I tend to spend a lot of time in my work as a geropsychologist thinking about technology. Which is an interesting thing, when you think about it – older adults aren’t exactly the first demographic group that people think of when they think of technology consumers (much less older adults living in nursing homes – […]
My understanding is that there’s a lot of questions out there as to how to handle the holidays with their older loved ones, particularly ones who have suffered recent losses. Perhaps it’s your loved ones’ first time away from home (because they’ve recently been placed in a long term care facility), or, perhaps if this […]
One of the things I’ve heard said (and I often jokingly say myself) is that having children is a convenient excuse for getting to have a second childhood, to relive one’s youth. This was most definitely a phenomenon that came true at a Halloween Eve party several years back. I had been invited to my […]