Because it expresses my own orientation, I carry in my wallet a membership card to the Society for the Right to Die, which has imprinted on the back a signed statement of my living will.

When the aging process accelerates inexorably, you usually don’t just fail to wake up one morning because of old age. One of the many illnesses that afflict the elderly with increasing frequency will likely be the cause of death and dying. Here is where I feel a living will is important. (more…)

Though much psychological research traditionally has focused on problems and maladjustment, recently there has been more interest in positive psychology, qualities that promote personal well-being across the life span. In this section, several of the positive aspects of later life social cognition that have received attention within personality psychology are briefly discussed. These include generativity, ego integrity and coping, optimism and perceived control, and wisdom. (more…)

You must understand that getting old is not an easy phase that our loved ones or the people that we know go through. Actually, everybody will age as time passes but each one will accept such a fate in different ways. But one thing that is the same, caring for older people should always be implemented and acted out. (more…)

Caring for Seniors and People with Disabilities in Their Own Home
Summary: Home care service providers assist elderly and disabled individuals with activities of daily living. This assistance often allows individuals to remain in their own home rather than needing to move to an assisted living facility. (more…)

As we enter that zone of parenting our parents, the value of our knowledge and understanding the purpose of re-parenting becomes a hazing secret to the fraternal order of Sandwich Generation Parents. A full-time single mom doesn’t have time for working, teaching kids, raising kids and re-parenting parents who should be mature and okay on their own, but she has to take the time. (more…)

One of the biggest obstacles my clients struggle with is that it may be time to tell their parents what to do. They’ll tell me they’ve asked their parent to do this or suggested they try that and their mother or father hasn’t followed through. They wonder how they should approach it with them now. When I suggest that it may be time to be more direct with their parents, their response is usually, “I can do that?”

There does come a time when you can no longer wait for your parents to act. (more…)

Hospice is a philosophy of caring for dying patients and their families while emphasizing quality of life. Care is provided by an interdisciplinary team to meet the patient’s and family’s needs throughout the dying process as well as after death. Bereavement care is a key component of hospice, setting it apart from other forms of institutional care provided to dying persons. (more…)