A New Study on Preventing Depression in Older Adults at University of Pittsburgh
Since 2011, Director of the Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry and geriatric psychiatrist Charles F. Reynolds, III, MD, has led a five-year study at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center investigating whether helping older adults cope with their illnesses can forestall major depression―an underrecognized and undertreated mental health problem that often has a dramatic impact on seniors’ overall health.
Since 2011, Director of the Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry and geriatric psychiatrist Charles F. Reynolds, III, MD, has led a five-year study at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center investigating whether helping older adults cope with their illnesses can forestall major depression―an underrecognized and undertreated mental health problem that often has a detrimental impact on seniors’ overall health.
The study is the largest effort of its kind and focuses on three groups of seniors known to be especially vulnerable to developing depression: those with mild cognitive impairment, those with osteo-arthritis of the knee, and those who are frail and in need of social and medical assistance. The goal of the study is to teach people ways to regulate their mood, protect themselves from downward emotional spirals, and counteract the learned helplessness at the core of depression
Read the full article in the Washington Post here.
