Alzheimer's Family Support & Education

There are many families that suffer a great deal with physical and emotional toll's when caring for their love one who suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer has causes an individual to go through many stages that put stress on the family caregiver and friends. The different behaviors that is exhibit from Alzheimer are things such as wandering, screaming and physical or verbal aggression. These changes cause for family, caregivers, and friends, to look for way to care for their love one and to gain support and education.





While my mother was caring for my grandfather, I noticed that she did not have any support nor did she have the educational knowledge to have care for him in a better way. There were times when my mother had to restrain my grandfather by strapping him down to keep him was wandering off. I can't say that this was wrong, she did only what she thought was best for him. She had no family support from her sibling's. As I continue to write, I have come to realize that there are tools family, caregiver, and friends need to help support and educate them while they cope with their love one illness.





Increasing your Knowledge of the disease and it's management.

• Get involved with your local organizations that serve the Alzheimer's community in your area, such as your local office for the Aging, or regional Alzheimer's chapter.



• Learn about programs and services available in your community, and take advantage of them!



• Join a support group for caregivers, or participate in Internet support networks.



• Ask your doctor to help you locate services appropriate to your loved one's needs, and ask if he or she can recommend quality programs.



• Visit a local library or book store to find books about Alzheimer's disease and coping as a caregiver.



• Also visit the section on this site entitled " Resources and Support".

Caregivers educational programs are beneficial

Caregiver interventions come in many forms, and ongoing research funded by the National Institute on Aging is investigating which programs and programs components are most beneficial. Strong evidence backs the use of interventions that go beyond education to include various forms of support.

Examples include:

Programs that educate families as a group about psychological issues faced when a loved one has Alzheimer's;

Programs that combine extensive individual and group counseling with participation in support groups;

Home-based training programs that teach caregivers how to manage behavioral problems with Alzheimer's.

Studies show that such programs can significantly delay the time to placement in a nursing , which is often precipitated by unmanageable behavioral problems. Participating in these type of of interventions can reduce depressions, anger, tension, fatigue and confusion in caregiving. I hope that information can help someone who family may be experiencings a love one who suffer from Alzheimer disease. For more information go to http://www.alzinfo.org/alzheimers-treatment-family.asp

Emotional and Social Development in Late Adulthood

Erickson's Theory: Ego Integrity vs. Despair is the final stage of life. It involves coming to terms with one's life. As we become older there are many changes that we have to adjust too. They are intellectual changes, learning, and memory. How does this effect us as we grow older. There are two types of intellectual changes found that fluid intelligence declines with age, but crystallized intelligence increases. ( Hutchinson,2008 )Fluid intelligence involves the ability to respond quickly, to memorize quickly, to compute quickly with no error, and to draw rapid inferences from visual relationships ( Hutchinson, 2008 ). Crystallized intelligence is based on accumulated learning and includes the ability to reflect and recognize rather than to recall and remember( Hutchinson, 2008). Let's focus on the difference between the two intelligences in late adulthood. As I Analyze fluid intelligence it amazes me to think that I can possibly retain this type of memory. This type of memory will give back years of life as a individual age in late adulthood. Studies shows that detention and recall are dependent on individual memory performance. A person with Alzheimer's will not have a brain that function in this capacity. I can recall individuals that I have known that had Alzheimer's were not able to recall or even know their family. However, one that does not have Alzheimer's will be able to meet these abilities. Crystallized memory had it share of criticism, I do believe that it is the way that most elderly individuals memory develop as they grow older. Living around those in late adulthood has shown me that they can learn and have the ability to reflect on their pass and future life. I have witness how they can enlighten you about things that happen in the late sixty when gas was not as high as it is now. My grandparents were very sharp thinkers. My grandmother was in her right mind until the day she pass. Unfortunately, my grandfather was stricken with Alzheimer. My grandparents and other elders are better emotionally. They know how to respond and cope with situations better than younger people. That's when the old saying comes in "the older you get the wiser you become" Younger people tend to react more impulsively in their problem solving, while elders are better at emotional self -regulation. I must admit, as a child I would never play with my peers ; I always cling to older people. They have given me wisdom and knowledge that have blessed my life. As time goes on, we all may arrive at the stage in our life, I discovered that successful aging occurs when elders have developed many ways to minimize losses and maximize gains. They are things such as, well- funded social security plans, good health care, safe housing that adjust to changes in elders needs, social services, opportunities for lifelong learning. As I end, I would like to thank you for your time and comments.

One common Personality Change in late adulthood is Dementia

Dementia is a brain disease that cause memory and cognitive abilities to deteriorate. It robs people of their personality. Dementia has an effect on individuals in late adulthood. It is not as progressive as Alzheimer disease but has some of the same symptom's. Dementia can be caused by complications of chronic high blood pressure, blood vessel disease or a stroke. Here are some risk factors of cognitive decline with dementia including genetic. They are female gender, medical conditions, heart disease,diabetes, lifestyle choices such as smoking, substance abuse, psychological and psychosocial factors such as low education achievement, lack of physical activity, lack of social interaction and leisure activities. It is very important to try to live a health life. Just three weeks ago I had my yearly physical and my doctor informed me that I need to lose weight( 20lbs.) I thought that this was a little extreme, but I decided to take his advice, I have loss a total of 11lbs in four weeks. As I shared in my last blog, my grandfather died from these diseases. I have made a conscious decision to learn how to prevent this from occurring in my life and others. From Dimensions of Human Behavior it informs me that poor health can later on contribute to having dementia or Alzheimer disease that leads to personality change. If I want to live a long health life I must consider these factors. Every time I have my blood pressure checked I am at the boarder line of hypertension. My doctor cautioned me, he stated if I loss the weight my blood pressure will drop several points. How many of us go through out our day not realizing the dangers we put ourselves in. I think I am health, I eat the right food's and exercise everyday. Little did I know that being health determine will you develope Dementia. Take a look at all these risk factors and examine what is it that you may need to do to prevent yourself from these diseases. Be safe, look for signs from your ones, don't let it be to late, early prevention save lives.

Health Minds. Healthy Lives.

This topic became interesting to me from experiences on a personal and professional level .I watched my mother take care of my grandfather as his mind deteriorate by this disease called Alzheimer's. It effected his mental personality capablities. His personality changed to a different person, he became aggessive, angry, loss of memory of everyone, and he would even walk out of the house without anyone knowing where to find him. This was hard to cope with. As a family, we made it by the grace of God. On a professional level there are many clients that I served who are in their early stage of this disease and Dementia. I have witness how families cope with their love one from these diseases. Erikson states that there are three aspects of personality that increase significantly: outgoingness, self- confidence, and warmth. On the other hand, Vaillant suggest that there are also two components: temperament and character. Vaillant states that temperament doesn't change, and adaptation in adolesence is one of the best predictors of adapation in late adulthood. Sadly, many of our elderly are reluctant to seek psychiatric treatment which could possibly cure or alleviate their symptons and level of functioning. America has the highest suicide rate among the elderly ranging from aged 65. Worldwide, elderly people lead the World Health Organization's list of new cases of mental illness. This topic has become very close to me. As I continue to research this topic, I hope that it becomes informative and helpful to those who may have a love one who suffers from this disorder or a client/consumer that you my come in contact with through your practice. I discovered informative information that explained causes and affects that contribute to this particular topic. It explained symptoms and percentile of victims. This information that I found is from American Psychiatric Association and Dimensions of Human Behavior by Elizabeth D. Hutchison. Stick around for the up coming blog post on Personality changes in Late Adulthood.