How are older adults coping with the mental health effects of COVID-19? Analysis reveals resilience in many individuals and what factors may be driving it — ScienceDaily
Older adults are especially vulnerable to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic — with higher risks of severe complications and death, and potentially greater difficulties accessing care and adapting to technologies such as telemedicine. A viewpoint article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association notes that there’s also a concern that isolation during the pandemic could be more difficult for older individuals, which could exacerbate existing mental health conditions. Information gathered over the past several months suggests a much more nuanced picture, however.
“Over the spring and summer of 2020, we were struck by a number of individual studies from all over the world that reported a consistent theme: Older adults, as a group, appeared to be withstanding the strains on mental health from the pandemic better than all other age groups,” said lead author Ipsit Vahia, MD, medical director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Outpatient Services and the