Fortunately, the treatment prognosis for depression is good. Once diagnosed, 80 percent of clinically depressed individuals can be effectively treated by medication, psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or any combination of the three. A novel treatment transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been cleared by the FDA and may be helpful for mild depression that has not been helped by one medication trial. Medication is effective for a majority of people with depression. Four groups of antidepressant medications have been used to effectively treat depressive illness: selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and norepinephrine and serotonin reuptake inhibitors (NSRIs), and less commonly, tricyclics, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), Medication adherence is especially important, but can present challenges among forgetful individuals.It is important to note that all medicines have side effects as well as benefits., and the selection of the best treatment is often made based on tolerability of the side effects.
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‘Aging’ Posts
Depression in older persons can be treated
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010Playing softball despite Parkinson’s disease
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010Despite having Parkinson’s disease for the past 10 years, Bob Soulen, 69, continues to play in the Montgomery County Senior Softball League.
The Washington Post published a story and a video about Bob Soulen a well known athlete with Parkinson’s disease :”….The big first baseman trudges across the pristine infield, his walker leaving a crooked trail in the dirt. He has bandages on his knees, a bald spot where he hit his head against a door frame and an old shoulder dislocation from a spill at home… But it’s game time. The hot afternoon is giving way to the shadows of evening. And Bob Soulen, 69, who has Parkinson’s disease, is going to play some ball.
Twenty miles away, 30,000 people have streamed into Nationals Park to see Washington’s young pitching sensation, Stephen Strasburg. Here on Field No. 5 in Montgomery County’s Wheaton Regional Park, a lone fan – the wife of an opposing player – sits in the bleachers to witness a different phenomenon: an aging physicist’s determination to cling to the game of his youth.
As Soulen shuffles across the dirt, the other Mustangs are arriving, limbering up and playing catch, and Soulen is careful to lift his walker over the fresh white streak of the foul line. Like the diamond, the evening seems perfect, and in a few minutes there will be a pale moon rising over center field.
Robert J. Soulen Jr. of North Bethesda is a retired award-winning scientist who worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Naval Research Laboratory. His area of expertise is superconductivity as it relates to temperature measurement and ship propulsion.
He also plays softball in Montgomery’s senior leagues and can wax about the laws of physics as they relate to bat vs. ball…” Read the story
Mental Illness in Senior Citizens
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
Mental illness affects one out of every five senior citizen Americans. Just a handful of the significant mental health problems that may occur during old age include delirium, dementia, depression, schizophrenia and psychosis. Older adults who suffer with mental health conditions often tend to have very abnormal behavioral and cognitive patterns that are many times associated with a decreased capacity for them to function properly.
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The Aging Brain
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Living Well with memory loss and Alzheimer's
On Episode Six of the Charlie Rose Brain Series, a discussion of the Aging Brain with Brenda Milner of McGill University, Larry Squire of the University of California San Diego, John Hardy of University College London, and Scott Small of Columbia University. Co-hosted by Eric Kandel of Columbia University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, we find easy information for the laymen about what occurs in the aging memory related to memory loss and the developing of Alzheimer’s
International Symposium on Healthy Aging: Monday, September 13, 1pm-5pm
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Co-Sponsored by: UCB School of Public Health; the UCB Retirement Center; the Center for the Advanced Study of Aging Services, School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley; UCB Resource Center on Aging; UCB Osher Lifelong Learning Institute; Kazamashobo Publishing, Co. Ltd.
The Symposium on Healthy Aging will address three issues. The first is to clarify predictors of longevity among older adults in the United States, Sweden, and Japan. The second is to examine healthy aging among immigrants in the United States, Sweden, and Japan. Lastly, we will propose recommendations for health care policies for diverse older adults, making use of the perspectives from these three countries.
Please note: seating is limited, so please respond as soon as possible. RSVP with your name and email address to Kazumi Hoshino, Ph.D., planning committee member, at hoshino@berkeley.edu by September 9, 2010.
Brain Wellness À la Wii
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As of August 2010, the Wii leads the generation over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales and in December 2009 broke the record for best-selling console in a single month in the United States.
Nintendo hoped to target a wider demographic with its console. The productions are Nintendo’s first broad-based advertising strategy and include a two-minute video clip showing a varied assortment of people enjoying the Wii system, such as urban apartment-dwellers, country ranchers, grandparents, and parents with their children.The marketing campaign has proved to be successful: pensioners, as old as 103 have been reported to be playing the Wii in the United Kingdom.. A report by the British newspaper The People also stated that Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain has played using the Wii console!
Now, we have data that the Wii games have brought back feelings of being young again as the participants flex their mental muscles and improve their physical fitness. The Wii is improving the quality of life of many aging seniors.
Diane Carbo, in an article written for Senior Advice, states that “…Healthy aging and a brain fitness program along with the Wii promotes the development of new skills, and helps aging seniors learn from their mistakes. The best part of using the Wii as part of a healthy aging program is the laughter and excitement you see in the faces of the participants. The environment is electric as the aging seniors enjoy familiar interests in a new format. For many seniors it feels like old times again…”
Exercise and the “Mediterranean Diet” the best options to prevent Dementia, including Alzheimer’s
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
In a recent article appeared on The Hartford Courant of Connecticut , the fact of Alzheimer’s disease being uncurable and sriking 1 in 8 of us alarmed many. Nonetheless, the article explains that doing your part by eating the right kind of diet and keeping your body and brain engaged can help to prevent dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
The article explains recent data connected to the benefits of exercising regularly, keeping a diet rich in Omega 3, olive oil, and wine…yes, wine… staying cognitively engaged, and avoiding depression is ultimately the most reasonable approach not only to prevent dementia but also “… to treat conditions like hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, obesity and diabetes…”
