PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS SOME
OLDER
ADULTS
EXPERIENCE
American Psychological Association
Table of Contents
Why Practitioners Need Information
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PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS SOME |
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American Psychological Association Why Practitioners Need Information |
Older adults may evidence a broad array of psychological issues and disorders, including almost all the problems that affect younger adults. Older adults may suffer recurrences of psychological disorders they experienced when younger, or they may have new problems due either to the developmental stresses of late life or neuropathology. Older adults often have multiple problems. For example, an individual may have a mental disorder such as major depression and a substance abuse or personality disorder. Medical problems are more common in older adults, and psychological symptoms and syndromes are often comorbid with physical illness. In addition, the classic presentation of disease is sometimes not evident, but rather the symptoms present in a nonspecific manner (e.g., refusal to eat, falling). Further, older adults often receive one or more medications for medical problems, and difficulties may arise due to drug-drug interactions or side effects of medications. Understanding comorbidity of mental and medical disorders is a central task in assessing and treating psychological problems in older adults. The psychological disorders listed are in alphabetical order. | ||
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