The “It’s All in Your Head” Diagnosis Endangers Women’s Health
From Los Angeles Times: Many physicians are quick to dismiss women's serious health concerns as psychological issues, leading to the delay of proper treatment and...
Deadly Drugs Misused in U.S. Nursing Facilities
From AARP: The family of Bobby Glenn Tweed recently settled a lawsuit with a nursing home over his wrongful death. Tweed was prescribed psychotropic drugs without...
Nonclinical Factors are Associated with Long-Term Benzodiazepine Use in Older Adults
White race and size of initial prescription, along with poor sleep quality, are associated with long-term benzodiazepine use in older adults.
Call to Ban “Low Testosterone” Ads as “Disease-mongering”
An editorial in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has called for a ban on advertisements about testosterone replacement therapy, and the FDA has issued warnings about the practice.
Sharp Rise in Older Americans’ use of Multiple Psychiatric Drugs
From the New York Times: The number of U.S. older adults prescribed at least three psychiatric drugs more than doubled between 2004 and 2013, even...
Gallup: “Americans’ Views of Pharmaceutical Industry Take a Tumble”
“In Gallup's annual measure of 25 major U.S. business sectors, the percentage of Americans with a positive view of the pharmaceutical industry dropped from 40% in 2014 to 35% this year, while the percentage with a negative view rose from 36% to 43%.”
For-Profit Medicine Incentivizes Overmedicating Our Elderly
From NBC: According to human rights investigators, anti-psychotic drugs are often administered to nursing home residents to address behavioral issues. Our nation's lack of funding...
Some Nursing Homes Trying To Move Beyond Antipsychotics
-Some nursing homes are changing their approaches since the US federal government began more closely regulating the use of antipsychotic medications in elderly patients with dementia.
Few Seniors Have Advance Directives, Yet Doctors Don’t Like It When They Do
In MinnPost, Susan Perry discusses a JAMA Internal Medicine study that found that, within 48 hours of being hospitalized, almost half of adults aged...
Ritalin Used to be “Grandma’s Little Helper”
Eugene Raikhel reveals ads from 1966 where Ritalin, now prescribed largely for ADHD, was marketed as a “kind of mind antidepressant for housewives.” “I...
Radical Disabled Americans Bringing Direct Action to Your Town
From Pacific Standard: ADAPT, a national direct action disability rights group, recently staged a protest to fight provisions in the GOP's health care plan that will...
Feminist Retirement Home in Paris Celebrates Aging
From Girl Talk HQ: A new feminist retirement home in Paris has been built to celebrate aging and counter the societal narrative that growing old is...
How Many Pills are too Many?
From The New York Times: Overprescription is becoming an increasingly prevalent public health issue, especially for older adults with multiple chronic conditions.
"Though studies have found...
Polypharmacy Associated with Cognitive Decline in Elderly Patients
Study finds that elderly patients taking at least 5 medications were at increased risk of mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
Lack of Face-to-Face Contact Doubles Depression Risk for Older Adults
New research suggests that more frequent in-person contact lessens the risk of depression in older adults. The study, published in this month’s issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, found that in Americans over fifty the more face-to-face contact they had with children, family and friends, the less likely they were to develop depressive symptoms.
Cognitive Enhancement With Yoga
From Psychiatric Times: A recent study suggests that Kundalini yoga may be at least as effective as memory training in improving cognitive resilience in older adults with...
People Age Better if They Have a Purpose in Life
From TIME: Living purposefully may help people maintain their physical function and independence as they age. According to a new study, older adults with a...
The Never-Ending Misuse of Antipsychotics in Nursing Homes
From Health Affairs: Although the problem of antipsychotic misuse in nursing homes has been raised to policymakers numerous times over the past six decades, the...
The Other Big Drug Problem: Older People Taking Too Many Pills
From The Washington Post: In addition to the opioid crisis, America has one other prescription drug epidemic — older Americans are taking far too many unnecessary...
People With Dementia Press for More Rights
From STAT: People with dementia are coming together to fight for the right to make their own decisions, to have a voice in public policy, and to...
Weaning the Elderly off Sleeping Pills
In a follow-up to an earlier commentary on the topic, Paula Span discusses the widespread use and negative effects of sleeping pills among the...
Is “Low Testosterone” Actually a “Disease”?
-Various experts weigh in on whether the boom in diagnosing psychological and physical problems as being caused by "low testosterone" is "disease-mongering."
Sunday FM: Music Therapy Comes to Life in Documentary
A new documentary coming to theatres around the US over the next few months explores Dan Cohen's Music and Memory program and its emotional...
A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly
From The New York Times: Use of benzodiazepines has risen among seniors despite their increased vulnerability to the drugs' adverse effects.
"'Set aside the opioid issue,'...
The Drug Being Pushed on Nursing Home Residents
From Next Avenue: The drug Nuedexta has only been approved for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, the maker of...
