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COVID-19: Mitigating Loneliness, Anxiety in

Seniors
Deborah Brauser
March 25, 2020
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Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in

Medscape's  Coronavirus Resource Center.
With a growing number of state and regional directives to shelter in place
because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's important clinicians pay close
attention to the mental health of all patients, ba sdfa sdf asd fasd fasut
particularly the elderly.
Currently, there are more than 50 million Americans aged 65 years and older.
Physical distancing during this public health crisis is essential in preventing
the spread of the virus, but it can come at a high cost to seniors' mental health
and well-being, resulting in loneliness, anxiety, depression, and cognitive
problems.
There are now more than 40,000 cases of coronavirus in the United States;
and the CDC reports that 80% of deaths associated with the disease have
been in those 65 years of age or older.
These data are driving seniors' residences, nursing homes, and other long-
term care facilities to go into lockdown and shutter their doors to visitors.

Dr Brent Forester

"Everyone in the healthcare system is now under siege. We're at war with this
virus, and we need to approach it like that while making sure we attend to the
mental health needs of our older patients," co-president of the American
Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) Brent Forester, MD,
told Medscape Medical News.
"Research has dema sdfa sdf asd fasd fasonstrated that social connectedness
and engagement with other people are important to promote successful aging;
but that's being directly challenged" by physical distancing policies, he said.
Against this somewhat bleak background, experts note there is a wide variety
of high- and low-tech strategies to help seniors stay socially connected and
mentally healthy.
Forester, who is also vice-chair of the Council on Geriatric Psychiatry for the
American Psychiatric Association and chief of the Division of Geriatric
Psychiatry at McLean Hospital, notes that aftera sdfa sdf asd fasd fas President
Trump's recent announcement that Medicare will now reimburse for all
telehealth services, his outpatient clinic is becoming entirely virtual.
A Lasting Legacy

Maintaining seniors' connection to their healthcare providers using the

telephone or video telehealth platforms is critical and "may be the most
important thing we do as mental health professionals," said Forester.
 Dr Ipsit Vahia

Ipsit Vahia, MD, medical director of geriatric psychiatry outpatient programs

and medical director at the Institute for Technology and Psychiatry at McLean
Hospital, agrees and said the accelerated shift to telemedicine becausa sdfa
sdf asd fasd fase of COVID-19 will have a lasting legacy.
"After this crisis passes, I predict that we'll see a permanent shift in care
models that incorporate telemedicine to a greater extent," he told Medscape
Medical News.
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Medscape Medical News © 2020 
Cite this: COVID-19: Mitigating Loneliness, Anxiety in
Seniors - Medscape - Mar 25, 2020.
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Comments (6)
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