Mental Health_Gerontology_CH24 Flashcards
“A state of well being in w/c every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope w normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community”
Mental Health accdng to WHO
“One who accepts the aging self as an active being, engaging available strengths to compensate for weakness in order to create personal meaning, maintain maximum autonomy by mastering the environment, and sustain positive relationships w others”
Mental health in aging: a mentally healthy person
Autonomy, intimacy, integrity and generativity
All aspect of mentally healthy adult
Characterized by alterations in a variety of factors that include mood and affect, behaviour, and thinking and cognition. The disorder are associated w various degrees of distress and impaired functioning
Mental order or diagnosable mental illness
If a person lost a significant person and developed painful persistent health problems, the consequences may be quite different and could cause :
Stress overload
In older adult, stress may appear as cognitive impairment or behaviour change that will be alleviated as the stress is reduced to match the individual’s____
Adaptability
Older people maybe reluctant to seek help for stressors because of ___
- Pride of independence
- Stoic acceptance of difficulty
- Unawareness of resources
- Fear of being “put away”
The most prevalent mental disorders in late life are:
- Anxiety
- Dementia
- Mood disorder (depression)
- Addiction & substance abuse
________ about having mental illness discourages many people from seeking treatment
Stigma
______ and _____ in older adults are often not recognized or mistakenly viewed as normal part of aging.
Mental illness and addiction
Some obstacles to mental health care in these settings include:
- Shortage of trained personnel
- Limited availability of and access to psychiatric services
- Lack of staff training related to mental health and mental illness
Assessment of mental health includes:
- Observation of appearance
- Behaviour and examination of cognitive function
- Functional abilities
- Anxiety
- Adjustment reactions
- Depression
- Substance abuse
- Suicidal risk
____ is the most common anxiety disorder in older people. symptoms include:
- Unrealistic and excessive worries
- Restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge
- Being easily fatigued
- Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
- Irritability
- Muscle tension
- Sleep disturbance
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Factors that reduce the chances of recognizing anxiety:
- Stigma associated w/ mental illness
- Attributing psychological symptoms to physical causes
- Under reporting and denying problems
- Labels and words used for anxiety
- Ageist attitude and beliefs
- Diagnostic difficulties
- Setting-specific deficits, such as time constraints in primary care settings
- Somatic complaints
Scales to assess anxiety that are recommended in Best practice guidelines on detection and assessment of anxiety include:
- The Geriatric Anxiety Inventory
- The Short Anxiety Screening Test
- The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
- Rating Anxiety in Dementia