Answer to Question 1
In the event that a person is assessed and diagnosed properly, the two main forms of treatment are medical treatment and psychotherapy. Medical treatment most often involves the use of various medications. With older adults, one has to be careful because they may metabolize medications differently than younger individuals. Getting the right dosage of medication is important. Also, medications that work for one age group may not for another. Older adults take more medications than other age groups, so interactions must be watched for. If there are cognitive impairments, it is important to make sure the client does not over- or under-take their medication(s). In therapy, clinicians need to be sensitive to the needs of older clients. They need to examine their own positive and negative biases regarding older adults. A new positive approach to working with older adults has been proposed that focuses on promoting successful aging.
Answer to Question 2
How are adults assessed? In terms of social, psychological and cognitive assessments, there are six basic methods: interview, self-report, report by others, psychophysiological assessment, direct observation, and performance-based
assessment. Clinical interviews are the most widely used method. There are a number of self-report measures, but as was mentioned in Chapter 1, their reliability and validity are questionable with older adults. Friends and family can report on a subject. Report by others is useful to corroborate the subject's data and is helpful if the subject cannot or will not answer for themselves. Psychophysiological reports are things like heart rate, muscle activity, and EEG. Direct observation is useful when there are problems with specific behaviors. And finally, performance-based assessment involves giving clients a specific task to perform.
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