week 5: Aging and mental health

Question 1

_______ disorders are easier for us to see. _________ disorders are sometimes hidden

Answer 1

physical, mental

Question 2

What is a mental disorder?

Answer 2

any of a broad range of medical conditions (ex: depression, schizophrenia, OCD, panic disorder) that are marked by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind or emotions to impair normal psychological functioning and cause disability and disrupt functioning.

• a medical condition
• disorder of the mind and emotions
• causes impairment to normal functioning, mood, feelings, behaviour etc.

Question 3

Explain each opinion regarding mental disorders:
1. historical
2. etiology (cause?)
3. high risk groups
4. treatment
5. prognosis (mortality?)
6. society reaction

Answer 3

1. historical = mental disorders were considered different from physical diseases
2. etiology (cause?) = no organic/physiological cause
3. high risk groups = people with some “fixed” traits
4. treatment = ineffective
5. prognosis (mortality?) = usually no mortality
6. society reaction = social isolation

Question 4

Are opinions on mental disorders more extreme for older people? What does this cause

Answer 4

Yes opinions are more extreme, so this intersects with ageism

Question 5

1. Depression rates are usually lower in (older/younger) people. Depression rates are higher in (older/younger) people.
2. Is it easy to diagnose older people with depression?

Answer 5

1. older, younger
2. No, depression in older adults is often under-recognized, under-reported and untreated

Question 6

1. _________ people in Canada lived with Dementia, ____% being women.
2. the projected # of people living with dementia in 2030 is ________
3. ___ in _____ Canadians have experience caring for someone living with dementia.
4. __/___ of people diagnosed with dementia are women

Answer 6

1. 600,000, 60%
2. almost 1 million
3. 1 in 5
4. 2/3

Question 7

1. T/F: there are more men with dementia
2. Can start as early as age ____
3. The life expectancy for women is (longer/shorter) than for men, but age is the greatest _______ ______ for developing dementia

Answer 7

1. F. more women
2. 40
3. longer, risk factor

Question 8

1. How did COVID affect the mental health of the older population? The younger population? What does this difference show?
2. What are the 2 important points about mental health of older adults?

Answer 8

1. older people’s mental health were not as affected by COVID. Younger people were really affected. This shows that older people are more resilient
2. mental health increases with age and so does resilience

Question 9

1. What is disability-adjusted life years (DALY)?
2. What makes older people more resilient?

Answer 9

1. a measure of the burden that a disease (disability) imposes on the person and society. Affects the life expectancy and that person’s daily life functioning.
2. They have more experience through life and we can actually learn how to deal with major life changes events from them

Question 10

1. What is plasticity?
2. How is plasticity related to resilience
3. T/F: our mental reserve capacity is fixed and determined solely by our genes

Answer 10

1. long lasting alterations in the brain’s chemistry, grey matter and structural connectivity in support or behaviour –> alterations in the brain that support behaviour functioning.
2. our brain’s plasticity responds to the way we are able to respond in adverse situations. Being able to adjust and manage these situations mean our brains plasticity has developed a sense of resilience
3. F. not fixed and is open to change

Question 11

1. How is our mental reserve capacity (or plasticity) enhanced?
2. Enhancing our mental reserve capacity further influences our __________

Answer 11

1. education, social status, stimulating lifestyle
2. Behaviours

Question 12

Explain how each part of brain development is affected by age:
1. Organization?
2. brain cell size?
3. Emotional centres?
4. What side of the brain is used more?

Answer 12

1. reorganization in response to new information and experiences
2. brain cells grow
3. emotional centres become more balanced
4. both halves of the brain are used more equally compared to younger people

Question 13

T/F: older people use one side of their brain exclusively more than others compared to young people

Answer 13

F. older people use both sides of the brain more equally compared to younger people

Question 14

1. What is encoding and how is it affected in older adults?
2. Is old information more difficult to recall for older people?

Answer 14

1. encoding = linking new information with already stored information.
   In older people, the speed of encoding is much slower
2. No. it is easier

Question 15

1. When studying the brains of older adults, it was found that there was a loss of _____ ______ through imaging
2. memory should be evaluated in some sort of ________, rather than in laboratory studies

Answer 15

1. brain mass
2. Context (social and physical environment)

Question 16

The brain responds to _______ and _______ as a person ages to delay or compensate for mental decline

Answer 16

stimulus and challenge

Question 17

What are 3 interventions to help with improvement in brain functioning of older adults?

Answer 17

1) memory training
2) enriched environment
3) physical fitness training/exercise

Question 18

What is Lawton’s ecological model?

Answer 18

The ecological model of human ageing identified that specific environments with higher levels of pressure significantly affect people with low behavioural competence regarding cognitive, physical and social competences –> old age is a critical phase in the life course that is profoundly influenced by the physical environment

Question 19

1. What are functional disorders?
2. What are organic disorders?

Answer 19

1. functional disorders are in some people as they age and they affect everyday functions of people. Ex: paranoia, anxiety, schizophrenia
2. organic disorders are diseases of the brain like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Leads to confusion and forgetfulness, behaviours are not accepted socially

Question 20

1. T/F: there is only 1 type of dementia
2. What are some early symptoms of alzeimer’s?
3. Is there a cause (etilogy) of alzeimer’s?
4. What are some risk factors for alzeimer’s

Answer 20

1. F. many types like Alzeimer’s
2. memory deficits, confusion, irritability, aggression, mood/behavioural changes
3. Not confirmed, but could be due to vascular changes in the brain
4. obesity, diabetes, hypertension, depression, inactivity, smoking, low education

Question 21

Explain each challenge of mental health issues in old age:
1. Stigma
2. legal/ethical issues

Answer 21

1. stigma = receiving a label and facing a stereotype. Can face discrimination, loss of status, and limit access to health care and social services
2. legal/ethical issues = can face loss of competence where they lose their ability to understand their situations and consequences of their decisions.

Question 22

1. What is loss of competency?
2. What is the difference between competency and capacity?

Answer 22

1. loss of competency = people with cognitive impairments may lose their ability to understand their situations/consequences of their decisions
2. competency = a legal term, capacity = a clinical term that refers to a person’s ability to function

Question 23

1. What is memory?
2. What is the information-processing model?
3. What is short term vs long term memory?

Answer 23

1. the recall of information after learning has occurred
2. A person perceives information (sensory memory), acts on the info and transforms it into short-term memory, the person stores it in the long term memory and organizes the knowledge
3. short term = where information is stored temporarily while it is being processed
   long term = stores knowledge and rules for applying knowledge

Question 24

Explain non-episodic vs episodic memory. Which one declines with age?

Answer 24

non-episodic = present or future with no reference to the time when the person stored the memory. learned skills through practice or general knowledge of the world. Little or no decline with age

episodic = the past, acquired at a specific time and place. Declines with age.

Question 25

1. What is working memory?
2. What is cognitive reserve and how is it enhanced?
3. What influences cognitive reserve?

Answer 25

1. when recently acquired information is manipulated and processed at the same time it is being stored temporarily
2. cognitive reserve = exceptional mental performance where a person has to work at minimum mental capacity to do something. It is enhanced by high intelligence, education, stim lifestyle, genetic makeup, larger brains
3. prior conditions, lack of plasticity

Question 26

Explain each type of brain studying tech:
1. MRI
2. PET

Answer 26

1. MRI = non-invasive imaging of the brain
2. PET = see how the brain functions with loss of grey and white matter

Question 27

Explain the contextual view of memory

Answer 27

idea that many conditions influence memory from the environment, physical, psychological, social etc.

Question 28

What is semantic memory?

Answer 28

the facts and information we have stored in our memory

Question 29

Explain the difference between executive functioning and cognitive functioning

Answer 29

executive = high order thinking for decision making, planning and coordinating
cognitive function = complex thinking to make choices among items

Question 30

1. What is intelligence?
2. What are the 2 types of intelligence?
3. _______ older people are good decision makes and advisors
   a) aggressive
   b) calm
   c) content
   d) wise

Answer 30

1. the ability to negotiate environmental demands successfully
2. 1) fluid = reasoning, abstract, concepts, problem solving with little use of knowledge –> basic intelligence. This declines with age
   2) crystallized = depends on stored information, acculturation and learning. Improves with age
3. wise

Question 31

What are the 5 criteria’s of wisdom?

Answer 31

1) storing factual information about human nature
2) procedural knowledge about handling problems
3) awareness of contexts and how they change
4) understanding the relativism of values and tolerance for others
5) understanding how to deal with uncertainty