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Blog - Page 11 of 13 - Nancy Rhine, MS, LMFT, CPG

Nancy Rhine, MS, LMFT, CPG

Specialist in Issues of Midlife & Older Adults

The Dakini Speaks

 

THE DAKINI SPEAKS
by Jennifer Welwood

 

My friends, let’s grow up.
Let’s stop pretending we don’t know the deal here.
Or if we truly haven’t noticed, let’s wake up and notice.

 

Look: everything that can be lost, will be lost.
It’s simple–how could we have missed it for so long?
Let’s grieve our losses fully, like ripe human beings,
But please, let’s not be so shocked by them.
Let’s not act so betrayed,
As though life had broken her secret promise to us.

 

Impermanence is life’s only promise to us,
And she keeps it with ruthless impeccability.

 

To a child she seems cruel, but she is only wild,
And her compassion is exquisitely precise:
Brilliantly penetrating, luminous with truth,
She strips away the unreal to show us the real.
This is the true ride — let’s give ourselves to it!

 

Let’s stop making deals for a safe passage:
There isn’t one anyway, and the cost is too high.

 

We are not children any more.
The true human adult gives everything for what cannot be lost.
Let’s dance the wild dance of no hope!

It’s Vital to Recognize Depression in Aging Adults

 

This is a very good, short article on why it is so important to recognize the signs and symptoms of depression in older people. They may not recognize that they themselves are depressed so it is imperative for caregivers and loved ones to be on the lookout. Undiagnosed depression can lead to isolation and even suicidality. Most cases of depression can be cured. This article is written by an older gentleman who has over 30 years experience working in retirement community and health facility administration. He includes reminders and tips for fighting depression in this article.  Recognize Depression in Older People – You May Save A Life

Drug Dependence Rising Among Baby Boomers

 

A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:

 

“Illicit drug use generally declines as individuals move through young adulthood into middle adulthood and maturity, but research has shown that the baby-boom generation (persons born between 1946 and 1964) has relatively higher drug use rates than previous generations. It has been predicted that, as the baby boom generation ages, past year marijuana use will almost triple between 1999/2001 and 2020 among persons aged 50 or older. Nonmedical use
of prescription-type drugs has been identified as a concern for this population.”
To read the complete report:  Illicit Drug Use Among Older Adults

What Do We Call Ourselves as a Group as We Get Older?

 

What do we call ourselves as a group as we get older? Seniors? Elders? Crones? Older adults? Geezers? Will baby boomers always just be called baby boomers? What else can we call ourselves when referring to our demographic cohort?  Here’s a good article on this called Elderly No More from the New Old Age Blog which is such a wonderful blog on aging.

 

Studies show oxytocin boost for people using social media

 

Here’s an interesting article from Fast Company about the boost in oxytocin found in people trusting and enjoying social media interchanges. Interesting! No wonder it can be so much fun and so addictive too.

 

“While there was overwhelming evidence that oxytocin played an important role in economic [online] transactions, I theorized it would also affect a person engaging on Facebook and Twitter. What is social networking but a social transaction? So Zak took my blood, I got on Twitter for 10 minutes, then he took it again, then compared to the two samples. In those intervening 10 minutes my levels of oxytocin had risen 13.2%–as much as a groom at a wedding. (My wife: “That’s pathetic.”)

 

Subsequently Zak traveled to Korea and redid my tweeting experiment, this time with three journalists using Facebook. The result: They all demonstrated increased levels of oxytocin. In fact, the oxytocin levels of one of the journalists, who was writing to his girlfriend, shot up nearly 150%. In other words, the brain’s release of oxytocin may correspond with the depth of connection between two people online.”

 

Check it the complete article.  Fast Company Article

“The Ladder Leaning Against the Wrong Wall”

 

If a person has had the sense of the Call — the feeling that there’s an adventure for him — and if he doesn’t follow that, but remains in the society because it’s safe and secure, then life dries up. And then he comes to that condition in late middle age: he’s gotten to the top of the ladder, and found that it’s against the wrong wall. If you have the guts to follow the risk, however, life opens, opens, opens up all along the line.

 

– Joseph Campbell

Common Themes & Issues in Geriatric Psychotherapy

Some psychotherapists think that doing therapy with older adults is the same as it is with any individual. In some respects, yes, our human dilemmas are similar throughout our life span. However, there are also very different developmental tasks in different phases of our lives. Erikson called these developmental stages and wrote about the task of finding integrity and wholeness in our older years vs. despair. Cumulative losses as we age are part of the landscape. Being trained and experienced in recognizing many of the mental health landmarks in the terrain of aging, a competent and compassionate gero-psychotherapist helps clients reframe their suffering into rich opportunities for growth and transformation. Common Themes & Issues in Geriatric Psychotherapy

Reminiscence Therapy – Benefits and Some How-to’s

While working with older adult clients, I have researched, studied and successfully practiced Reminiscence Therapy (RT) with clients. This article describes some of the benefits of RT on emotional and cognitive health. It also lists some questions or “prompts” used in RT to help get the process going with one’s clients or loved ones.  Reminiscence Therapy – Benefits & How-to’s

Autobiography in Five Chapters

by Portia Nelson

 

Chapter I

 

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

 

Chapter II

 

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

 

Chapter III

 

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit … but,
my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

 

Chapter IV

 

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

 

Chapter V

 

I walk down another street.