Mental Help for Elderly Population

The Mission of a Geriatric Psychiatrist:

2005-10-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

To lessen the damaging impact of the transitional process and period of losses in the elderly not only through adjustment to change, but also through learning of how to win back some of the independence that is lost...

Furher information and help is available at the Center of Revitalizing Psychiatry – New Jersey Mental Health

The main issues that should be addressed in the treatment of geriatric population

2005-08-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

1. Personal mental health and treatment of the following mental conditions:
- Depression or Mood instability
- Anxiety
- Cognitive Decline
- Behavioral Problems (agitation and disorientation)
- Dealing with grief
- Changes in sleep pattern and appetite
- Irritability
- Emotional sensitivity and vulnerability

2. Life's transitions - the period of losses. One of the major features of aging is charachterized by multiple losses:
Loss of health:
- Multiple medical problems
- Changes within physical appearance
- Decreased mobility
- Decline in level of cognitive and physical functioning
- Anticipation of imminent death

Relationship Loss:
- Loneliness and being alone
- Fellow residents� and friends� decline in health or death
- Familiar staff members relocate
- Decreased access to friends and family members
- Loss of control of family dynamics

Loss of Property and Independence:
- Home
- Cherished possessions
- Real estate
- Managing tasks of everyday life
- Fear of being a burden/ loss of financial security
- Perceived loss of privacy, freedom, and control
- Lack of accessibility to prior community ties
- Changing legal status

3. Family interaction:
- Family members' perception of the elder members and their needs
- Changing family dynamics
- Loss of control in family situations

4. Peers and friends:
- Communication failure
- Self-exile
- Interpersonal relationship problems

Furher information and help is available at the Center of Revitalizing Psychiatry – New Jersey Mental Health

Revitalizing Psychiatry’s Methodologies

2005-08-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

Solution-Focused therapy:
Help for the clients to develop specific skills for adjustment to multiple losses and changes within their environment through individual and group therapy.

State-of-the-art Psychopharmacology:
Safe and effective treatment of mental illnesses by focusing on psychopharmacological issues from the perspectives of age and age-related disease effects on particular organ systems, taking into account possible drug interactions.

Group Counseling:
- Address interpersonal relationships within a group setting, emphasizing communication of the resident’s needs and the understanding of the needs of others. Supportive therapy is also carried out in a group setting, which teaches residents self-reliance and coping techniques in a day-to-day situations.
- Introduce specific methodology within a group setting, thus allowing the adjustment skills to develop through the experience of peers.
- Memory Enhancement Program
- Progressive Relaxation and Mediation Techniques
- Stress Reduction, Coping Skills, Training Worry Control

Individual Counseling:
- Provide supportive therapy and grief management in a one-on-one confidential setting.
- Aid verbalization of feelings and suppressed emotions through the individual therapy approach.

Family System Approach:
- Meet with family members to allow them to understand the nature of resident’s problems, as well as reassure the availability of professional support and supervision of medications prescribed.
- Provide an opportunity for catharsis and ventilation in a secure and confidential, therapeutic environment

Furher information and help is available at the Center of Revitalizing Psychiatry – New Jersey Mental Health

Useful links

2005-08-06T17:20:00.000-07:00