Dementia Awareness Dementia is not a disease in its own rights and it is not a part of the normal aging process. It is a progressive condition which means it will gradually become worse. This is because when dealing with dementia brain cells will begin to die and as these brain cells cannot usually be replaced the cells die and the brain begins to shrink. It is a common illness and affects around 820,000 people just in the UK alone. Most people who suffer with it are over 65 but there are 150,000 people under 65 who also suffer with it.
Abstract “In the U.S. alone, more than half a million reports of abuse against elderly Americans reach authorities every year, and millions more cases go unreported.” (www.helpguide.org/mental/elder_abuse_physical_emotional_sexual_neglect.htm) Our senior citizens eventually become feeble physically which means they are less likely to have the capability to fight off an attacker. Majority of elderly do not see, hear or think as soundly as they once had the competence to do, this leaves them vulnerable for immoral people to take full advantage of them. Elderly are being abused more than we know and often by those who are personably accountable for their care. Sadly, majority of the abuse comes directly from family members of the elderly patient. In 2010 according to research about ninety percent were family members of the person in need of care.
The landmark study by the American Geriatric Society (AGS) conducted in 1998 found through a telephone survey that one in five older Americans are taking analgesic medicines regularly and 63% of those have taken prescription pain medications for more than six months (AGS, 1998, p. 635). Older people are more likely to suffer from arthritis, bone and joint disorders, back problems, and many other chronic conditions. The study by the AGS also found that 45% of people who take pain medications had seen three or more doctors in the past five years, 79% whom were primary care physicians. Previous studies also suggest that 25-50% of long term care facility residents suffer from chronic pain and 45 to
The word is known by most, yet the condition remains untreated and generally downgraded to grumpiness in older adults (Hunter, 2012). As age increases, so does the loss of family and friends, which often means the number of emotional experiences through grief and other sad occasions, increases too (Hunter, 2012). This is the normal ageing process, however prolonged periods of depression that interfere with the person’s ability to function independently are not (National Institute of Mental Health, 2007). The purpose of this paper is to explore the theories and classification of depression, including the risk factors of the condition and the detrimental effects depression can have on daily living. It considers tools used to screen depression and the assessments and interventions used in nursing to improve health and overall wellbeing of the sufferer.
Some research suggest that most people with one E3 gene and E4 gene will not get the disease Other researchers Shiver(2011) suggested that Alzheimer disease is not considered as a genetic disease because no single gene determines if an individual will develop the illness. However, genetics undoubtedly play a role in the disease because having a first degree relative with Alzheimer’s increase the risk of getting the
Sociological Aspects of Later Adulthood In today’s society there are many ways in which you can deal with the elder in our society those that are proven to be incapable of helping and looking after themselves. The elder population has grown a lot, in the past many elderly persons where left alone and abandoned due to numerous reasons some of which where the momentary expense, lack of space and some mere basic reasons. Even in today’s generation persons once they have reach a certain age they are urge to retire and go home when most of these persons are not yet ready to just retire and sit down doing nothing. This however leave the elderly person with no income, no social life and in some cases their self esteem, power and status has being lost in the process. In our world today there is lack of opportunities for the elderly person to take part in; there are not enough facilities to cater to each person’s need, and in capabilities in that the elderly persons that are not gainfully employed cannot afford a house are to maintain him or herself on their own without the aid from the government agencies one out of every ten elderly person is now living in deep poverty.
That is where depression comes in. The people that have a hard time dealing with the changes of life are more likely to deal with this illness. When there is no support available for these individuals with depression, it often gets overlooked since depression manifests itself in an older person as them being resistant against the aging process. The purpose of this study was to research how depression
257 men in their study died from heart attacks - 70% of those who died had been judged as having 'type A' personalities. Critics have argued that it is very difficult to decide if someone has a 'type A' personality or not. They also say that the connection between personality and heart disease is weak, maintaining that negative emotions such as anger and frustration are more linked to stress-related illness than 'workaholic' lifestyles. These emotions may not be fixed aspects of someone's personality. In the late 1970's, Kobasa came up with a theory of why some people suffer stress more easily than others, suggesting that some people are 'hardy personality types'.
It can be said that younger people often don’t include older people which can lead to further disengagement. Older people that have restricted opportunities to interact with each other also suffer from a variety of health issues. This means that they are unable to socialise even more because they are physically frail and weak and therefore, struggle to leave the house to see others and socialise with them becoming increasingly ‘individual’ and less concerned with the expectations of others. Cumming argued that it was appropriate and healthy for older people to withdraw from others and disengagement was a natural part of ageing. A lot of various different issues occur when elderly people start to disengage with the people that are around them.
What they found out later, though, was she had failed to specify the people with normal weights had preexisting chronic illnesses or were smokers. This gave them a disadvantage. In another study researchers found that, “overweight individuals (but not obese people) tended to live longer than those of normal weight” (“You Can't Be Fit and Fat). They go on to say that not all overweight people develop diseases, but they are at a higher risk. At first, when this idea was brought up I thought to myself “yes maybe that can be possible”, but after reading several articles on it I know that it is not true.