Summary Of Critical Thinking In Psychology

“Alzheimer`s disease is called a family disease” (ALZlive), because it impacts every family member who is slowly watching a loved one decline. Alzheimer’s disease has an impact on caretakers because caregivers can lead to a variety of emotions, from guilt to anger. When dealing with a client who has Alzheimer; caretakers have a huge responsibility, which can cause stress or depression. If the caretaking is a family member it might lead to finical problems, which can lead to the hard and controversial decision of putting someone in a nursing home, that is better equipped. Guilt is the main emotion that a caretaker can express “I have never spoken to my mother`s doctor, it occurs to me that other children of

In this study, the professor asked 15 students in his Introductory Psychology class to volunteer to take the smart pill at the start of the semester. The other 15 students in the class who did not volunteer did not take the pill. This was not random assignment because this subject was not an unbiased division, and the professor didn’t create equal groups; therefore, it could affect the result. In general, volunteers do better than non-volunteers because volunteers have more motivation than the people who didn’t volunteer. For example, in the “tutoring study”, people who signed up for tutoring were doing much better than the people who did not sign up for tutoring because the people who sign up care about their grade; on

The topic of this article is about the effects that Alzheimer’s has on the patients, family members/caregivers. I believe there is a grave importance in this topic to help understand the effects of this disease and possibly help farther research. This might bring a few questions to the front of this discussion. How the relationship is after a patient is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s? How does this effect the family members/caregivers? What symptoms do family members experience with Alzheimer’s patients? What factors in life play a role in developing this disease? This paper will explore these questions with the respect of these news articles.

In a research article by Michael Sheppard and Marian Charles titled, Critical Thinking and Interpersonal Dispositions in Those Commencing Social Work Training, the authors examined the importance of these two aspects. With out interpersonal relationships there would be no social work, but that is hardly the only component to this vast and varied field. While relations to others are a highly needed attribute of successful social workers, being able to critically think through a situation is just as important. Social workers encounter people from all lifestyles, most commonly when in crisis, the client may be so distraught that they cannot successfully evaluate for themselves the situation at hand.

It is a complex disease people often times do not know how to care for. Although a decline in memory and bouts of more forgetfulness are more common as one ages, spotting the difference between normal age-related symptoms and Alzheimer’s is important for families so that they can get their loved one the best care available. Even with proper care though, caregivers can misunderstand the symptoms of those afflicted, leading to an improper treatment of the patient. There are an estimated between 2.4 and 3.1. million AD caregivers in the United States, a majority of which are family members, who may not know proper care techniques or may be of older age themselves, as they could be caring for a spouse (Schulz and O’Brien1, 185-94). In fact, in a study of caregivers of those to patients with a memory ailment including Alzheimer’s or Dementia found that spouses have consistently been found to be more depressed than other relatives caring for a family member with a cognitive impairment (Schulz and O’Brien2, 771-91). To help in awareness, there are many new classes being offered in schools that can better prepare caregivers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s (DHHS) National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease dedicated a major goal to “Enhance Care Quality and Efficiency,” with major strategies including building a workforce with the skills to provide high quality care, explore

Effective communication is crucial to the physical and emotional well-being of the person with dementia.

Although, according to Williamson, “many caregivers adapt quite well to their role” (Williamson). Before my pap started losing his memory, I didn’t realize how hard it was to watch a loved one with this disease, let alone care for a patient with Alzheimer’s. According to an article that explains a few coping strategies for caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease, “caregivers of people with dementia experience high rates of clinically significant anxiety and depression” (Cooper). This article explains various emotion-focused strategies, problem-focused strategies, and dysfunction-focused strategies for those caring for a person with Alzheimer’s. An experiment was conducted on caregivers of patient who have Alzheimer’s that explains which of these strategies were

Caring for a patient with dementia in an acute care setting requires an immense amount of patience and clinical support. As the article mentioned, the majority of these patients are being treated for their main diagnosis in addition to other chronic comorbidities, but unfortunately this does not always include their dementia. It is imperative and the importance is often overlooked regarding effective communication for these patients and their families. Regarding communication that works well with dementia patients includes an essential component of adjusting the environment. Close the door to the hallway to decrease noise and distraction, ask permission to turn on a gentle light and turn down the television, then tend to the basic needs the

Alzheimer’s and dementia are often thought of as an old age disease. Although the most commons risk factor is age but it is not the only one. Most majority of individuals do develop symptoms as elderly, but individuals that develop onset symptoms at a younger age, below 65 are said to develop early onset dementia (Lambert, M. A., Bickel, H., Prince, M., Fratiglioni, L., Von Strauss, E., Frydecka, D., & ... Reynish, E. L., 2014). Many researchers have conducted studies on the impact of cognitive disorders, such as dementia along with Alzhiemer’s, on the affects of the nonprofessional caregiver. Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t just affect the person but the affected person’s family and friends are affected as well.

Dementia can have a detrimental impact on takes a devastating toll on carers, affecting both their physiological and psychological wellbeing. According to the a poll, administered by the Alzheimer’s Association (2016) in the US, which questioned 3,102 adults in America about their attitudes, knowledge and experiences related to Alzheimer’s disease –, about 60 percent of carers of people with dementia carers rated their emotional stress of caring as high or very high, nearly 40 percent said they suffer from depression Aand approximately 74 percent said they are "somewhat" to "very" concerned about maintaining their own health .

Caregivers who report caring for a loved one in an at-home environment tend to show more symptoms of depression, and fall into a poorer state of physical and mental health. Depending on the relationship status of the caregiver and the elder with dementia, fewer symptoms of depression may result than expected due to reduction of guilt, resentment, or burden towards the situation. In addition, experiencing pleasant activities on a daily basis boosts the caregiver's and the patient's mood, causing more satisfaction at the end of the day. Implementing a daily routine filled with physical activities, activities promoting cognitive functioning, and other mood-boosting activities guide the individual to engage with his or her community. Although these tasks may become harder to complete in later stages of dementia, it is crucial for maintenance of cognitive functioning along with higher levels of happiness.

Alzheimer’s disease is categorized in three different stages based on the severity of the illness. When a person is experiencing the first stage of Alzheimer’s, the individual tends to lose interest in the activities that were once highly valuable to him or her, and tends to disengage in social interactions. Most of time, the immediate family are the ones that tend to pick up on the behavioral changes, since they are constantly in contact with the individual, who is experiencing these dramatic changes.

In the pamphlet Basics of Alzheimer’s Disease, the Alzheimer’s Association adds late onset, traditionally known simply as Alzheimer’s, targets primarily people 65 and older. The disease follows a series of steps from mild decline with little noticed changes to very severe cognitive decline where the final stage of the disease is in progress (Basic 19-21). Throughout the stages, independence becomes lost and family members will become care takers and in the later stages nursing homes or hospice may be needed. One book encourages the care giver to communicate through body language, tone, and written instructions to help alleviate as much stress as possible for those living with Alzheimer’s (Living 47). The book further adds when caring for a person with Alzheimer’s remember to maintain patience and to show respect .

The language and communication problems in AD across the spectrum of its three clinical stages often result in communication breakdowns, particularly in interactions between persons with AD and their family caregivers (Orange et al. 1996, 1998, Watson et al. 1999). Communication breakdowns can also result from caregivers’ use of ineffective communication strategies that perceive to be helpful or by not using strategies that are indeed helpful in maintaining effective communication or in resolving breakdowns (Orange et al. 1998, Small et l. 2003).

The aim of this study is to bring awareness to Alzheimer’s Disease. It is important noting that Alzheimer’s disease does not only affect the patient but also their family and caregiver. This research was conducted at St. Josephs Hospital Medical Nursing Home. We selected 10 medically diagnosed Alzheimer’s patients. We divided the patients into 2 groups. The first group consisted of patients that had a lot of moral support and affection from their families. In this group was also the grandmother of one of the contributors to this paper. The second group consisted of patients that do not receive moral support or have not seen their family for a long time.