A thoughtful and comprehensive response to COVID-19 with particular focus on the questions facing high-risk populations: older adults & persons with chronic illness

In this time of crisis of working to protect the health and safety of ourselves, families, and communities, it can be stressful by itself to process all the information coming at us from so many sources. In response to this, the University of Louisville Trager Institute is posting coronavirus updates and announcements to our COVID-19 Information & Resources Webpage.

Physical isolation and social distancing have become the new normal amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and strengthening psychological coping is as important as staying physically well.

In this Q&A, University of Louisville Trager Institute and Republic Bank Foundation Optimal Aging Clinic Director of Wellness, Joseph G. D’Ambrosio, PhD, JD, LMFT, CSW, shares his thoughts on the human need for connectivity, and ways to improve mental health during this unprecedented time in our history. D’Ambrosio also is an assistant professor in the UofL School Medicine.

Older adults have an increased risk for mental illnesses because of the losses that can accompany the aging process. Many older adults have lost their independence, friends, family members and social roles. Even with this increased risk for mental health challenges, many older adults do not receive the treatment they need due to stigma of mental health and the frequent situation where signs of mental illnesses are looked and dismissed as normal symptoms of aging, such as slowing of thought, memory, and thinking, hearing loss, vision loss, and physical decline (National Institute of Mental Health, 2019).