“I feel like I’m doing time for a crime I never committed.”   That’s what one of my older patients said to me in our very first session after he was moved unexpectedly from his home into assisted living. He wasn’t exaggerating. He wasn’t being dramatic. He was telling me exactly how he felt. […]

I was settling in for a long travel day on an airplane — when I found myself in one of those unexpectedly meaningful conversations that remind me why I do this work.   The man sitting next to me was in his early 60s. He and his husband were heading to Burlington to explore whether […]

What if I told you that nearly half of all older adults — not a small, extraordinary handful, but almost half — actually improve their cognitive and physical functioning as they age? Not maintain. Not slow the decline. Improve.   I know. That probably feels like it contradicts everything you’ve heard — from society, from […]

If you spend any time on social media, you have probably seen it — a well-meaning post, shared thousands of times, warning that caregivers are so depleted, so selflessly devoted, that they often die before the very people they are caring for. It is a striking claim.   Caregiving is hard. It is exhausting, isolating, […]

Have you ever caught yourself lying awake at night thinking, “What if I get dementia and don’t even recognize my own children?”   Or maybe you’ve had a health scare and found your mind immediately leaping forward — “This is just the beginning. It’s all downhill from here.” Perhaps you’ve felt that persistent, low-grade dread […]

Recently, a 73-year-old journalist reached out with a question I hear often in my work as a geropsychologist, but rarely see reflected in our culture: what do we do with the grief that comes with aging? She told me she’s known grief in the ways we’re used to naming—losing a sister in young adulthood, an […]

Living alone is a choice many of us treasure—the independence, the comfort of familiar surroundings, the dignity of managing our own daily rhythms. But what happens when dementia enters this picture?    As a geropsychologist who has worked with thousands of older adults navigating cognitive changes, I’ve witnessed both the profound challenges and the remarkable […]

Social Withdrawal or Healthy Social Selectivity? Your 83-year-old client’s daughter calls you concerned that her mother just quit her book club after three years and is concerned that her mom will now be isolated and lonely, what’s your first clinical hypothesis? Social withdrawal? Depression? Cognitive decline? Before you take the daughter’s concern at face value, […]

If you work with older adults, you’ve probably heard this question more times than you can count: “What can I do to keep my brain healthy?” The Global Council on Brain Health (GCBH) offers some of the most trustworthy, plain-English answers. Convened by AARP (with partners like Age UK), the GCBH brings together international experts […]

  Suicide Risk Spikes After a Dementia Diagnosis: Here’s Why Receiving a dementia diagnosis changes everything. For many people, it brings relief—finally, there’s an explanation for the confusion, memory lapses, or personality changes that have been happening. But for others, especially in the first months after hearing the words “you have dementia”, it can trigger […]

  When we think about trauma, we often imagine its effects on younger people—children, teens, or adults in midlife. But what about people 65 and older? The truth is trauma does not simply vanish with time. In fact, trauma among older adults is often undetected, untreated, and misunderstood. As a clinical geropsychologist, I’ve worked with […]

When an older loved one completes alcohol detox and enters a medical rehab program, families often feel a swirl of emotions: relief, hope, fear, and sometimes overwhelm. You may find yourself asking: How do we best support them right now? What’s really causing their symptoms—withdrawal, depression, or dementia? How do we help them return to […]