 Health & Nutrition
Thoughts on
Aging
Older Americans' Mental Health
(2 minutes: 30 seconds)
 MP3 (audio
only)
Audio/Video Script:
Dr. LaVona Traywick
Assistant Professor - Gerontology
[Announcer] Welcome to Thoughts on Aging with Dr. LaVona Traywick,
Assistant Professor of Gerontology with the University of Arkansas Division of
Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service.
[Dr. LaVona Traywick] Mental illness is not a normal part of aging. Mental illnesses are medical
conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the
ordinary demands of life because they disrupt a person's thinking, feeling,
mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning.
Mental illnesses
include depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive
disorder, also called OCD, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, also
called PTSD, and
borderline personality disorder.
It is important to raise public awareness about
mental health to continue to increase a community's understanding of mental
illness. Such awareness also reduces the stigma that may keep a person from
seeking proper help. Mental illnesses are real, common, and treatable. One in
four older adults in the US have a diagnosable mental illness, but less than one
quarter seek mental health attention or treatment. This has many implications
for the adult and for their families and friends.
As a person ages, one may be
exposed to increasing amounts of loss and change. Older Americans, family
members, caregivers, neighbors and friends need to know the difference between
healthy grieving over loss and unhealthy depression, between normal worries
and anxiety disorders, and between normal use and overuse of alcohol and
medications to dull emotional and/or physical pain. We need to help promote
mental health and work toward discontinuing the discrimination against older
adults who have mental health problems. The more people know, the more they can
help themselves and others.
This is Dr. LaVona Traywick and those are just a few "Thoughts on Aging".
[Announcer] Thank you for listening to Thoughts on Aging with Dr. LaVona
Traywick. To learn more about this and other topics, contact your local county
Cooperative
Extension Service office.
References:
National Alliance on Mental Health. "What is mental illness? Mental illness
facts." Retrieved on 1-16-09 from
http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=About_Mental_Illness
OWL: The voice of midlife and older women. "Older Americans' Mental Health
Week." Retrieved 1-13-09 from
http://www.owl-national.org/Older_Americans_Mental_Health_Week.html
Back to Thoughts on Aging
|
