Mental Health

An outdoor view with semi-cloudy sky, green grass, and a multi-storied, red brick building in the foreground. One sees cement walks and a crosswalk in front.

How to Get Over Feelings That Prevent You From Visiting the Nursing Home

People cite numerous reasons for why they hate visiting nursing homes. Some can’t stand funky smells, others find the sight of disengaged, listless seniors...

A medium-brown natural deck floor serves as a place to display a hammer, a pliers with orange handles, a black handled screwdriver. a black rolled measuring tape, and other tools.

Maintenance & Repair Services Let Older Adults Stay At Home

Whether the need is regular home maintenance or some small remodeling job, in the past it was hard to get many companies to even...

The image shows a dark wood background like a rought table. Stting against this background is a white oblong rock with rounded corners and little smiling faces drawn on in black. Int the center, someone printed in block letters: GRATITUDE.

Tweak Traditions to Make this Holiday Season Realistic and Rewarding

Dear Carol: I’ve spent decades caring for all the older adults connected to our families. Now, only my father-in-law and my mom remain. They...

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How to Stay Sane During the Holidays as a Sandwich Generation Caregiver

If one can believe the old Westerns, frontier women were the ultimate multi-taskers. They could rock a cradle with their foot to quiet a...

The cover of "Melted Away: A meooir of Climate Change and Caregiving in Peru by Barbara Drake-Vera. The image shows a colorful left margin using a South American theme. The main cover shows lots of blue sky and low clounds over snow capped montain peaks with foliage and then dry grass near the front.

Caregiving and Climate Change Deftly Interwoven in “Melted Away”

While there are hundreds of books on general caregiving and specifically, dementia care, I usually leave the reviews to the phenomenal group Alzauthors. My...

Second-Guessing Ourselves Is Part of the Caregiving Experience

Dear Carol: Over years of caring for my husband who had a combination of vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s, I found myself gradually becoming less...

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Should Your Parent Risk an Anesthesia Disaster or Forego Surgery?

Note: More is known now about the downfalls of surgery on older adults, yet some are still undergoing surgery that leaves them more damaged...

This indoor image shows a neat bedroom in the background The foreground shows a dignified older man with gray hair and a maroon robe. His blue and white striped pajama top shows at the neck. His hands are clasped in front of him and his expression is imperious.

Elders Who Abuse Their Family Caregivers

Most of us have seen evidence of people being harder on those they love than they are on strangers or even people they don’t...

The image background is black. In the foreground, we see a closeup of an older woman's face. She has closely cropped white hair and is wearing a white tee shirt. Her expression shows pursed lips, narrowed eyes, and an angry expression.

Siblings Who Feel Shut Out of Caregiving

There’s a great deal of anger in the world of family caregiving over siblings who don’t help care for their aging parents. Very often,...

This indoor image shows a confident older man with gray hair smoking a cigar. We see the cigar smoke as he puffs. He's wearing a short-sleeved golf shirt and seems thoughtful but powerful.

Caregivers Handling Impossibly Controlling Aging Parents

The responsibility of providing care for an aging or ill loved one is a monumental challenge in its own right. But when a care...