WHAT OTHER INTERVENTIONS MAY BE USEFUL FOR OLDER ADULTS?
American Psychological Association
Table of Contents
Why Practitioners Need Information
Other psychologically informed approaches exist to treat late-life problems
or to enhance the quality of later life.
- Some have observed that older people may find it beneficial to engage in reminiscence or "life review," in which past problems and successes are the focus of reflection. The goal of such an effort is to help the older person to reckon more fully with the many threads of a person's own course of adult development, with the desired result of greater psychological integration and emotional resiliency.
- Mutual aid support groups exist for persons facing a variety of life difficulties. For older people receiving psychological treatments, they may be a useful adjunct. For example, in many regions of the country, support groups exist for family members caring for persons with Alzheimer's Disease and for persons contending with the major medical illnesses evident in late life (e.g., Parkinson's Disease, cardiac problems, arthritis, cancer).
- Focused efforts to facilitate grief or bereavement may be especially helpful for older adults experiencing issues of unresolved loss or contending with multiple losses.
- Mood and memory workshops may improve functioning and are effective for properly trained psychologists to use. In addition, regular mood and memory checkups for older adults can be encouraged, just as we now encourage physical health checkups. Although age-consistent memory changes and mild depressive symptoms may be common and not severe, the discomfort they can cause should not be overlooked or downplayed. These problems may be appropriate targets for psychological intervention, much as hearing and vision loss in older adults, while common and not necessarily severe, are routinely treated with assistive devices or other interventions.
- There are psychologically beneficial aspects of exercise for older adults.
- Social and educational programs such as classes, travel, elder hostels, and volunteer work can promote socialization and social support among older people.
REGULAR MOOD AND MEMORY CHECKUPS FOR OLDER ADULTS CAN BE ENCOURAGED...