Marie Nitz

With the widespread closing of mental institutions two decades ago, today's correctional facilities have taken the place of yesterday's mental hospitals, said Marie Nitz, program manager with MedClinic's Geriatric Network, which offers crisis intervention for seniors with mental health problems.

Nitz said she wonders how many seniors who suddenly turn to criminal behavior are in control of their impulses.

She speculated that incarcerated seniors may have had their thinking impaired by either dementia or depression.Nitz said 50 percent of people 85 years or older have dementia.Six percent of Americans 65 or older suffer from depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Nitz said certain people take solace in highly structured environments.The prison's daily regimens often are a great source of comfort to seniors and not unlike care and treatment provided to patients with Alzheimer's disease, she said.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)

Copyright © 1999 Scripps Howard News Service

With the widespread closing of mental institutions two decades ago, today's correctional facilities have taken the place of yesterday's mental hospitals, said Marie Nitz, program manager with MedClinic's Geriatric Network, which offers crisis intervention for seniors with mental health problems.

Nitz said she wonders how many seniors who suddenly turn to criminal behavior are in control of their impulses.

She speculated that incarcerated seniors may have had their thinking impaired by either dementia or depression.Nitz said 50 percent of people 85 years or older have dementia.Six percent of Americans 65 or older suffer from depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Nitz said certain people take solace in highly structured environments.The prison's daily regimens often are a great source of comfort to seniors and not unlike care and treatment provided to patients with Alzheimer's disease, she said.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)

>

? The E.W. Scripps Co.

With the widespread closing of mental institutions two decades ago, today's correctional facilities have taken the place of yesterday's mental hospitals, said Marie Nitz, program manager with MedClinic's Geriatric Network, which offers crisis intervention for seniors with mental health problems.

Nitz said she wonders how many seniors who suddenly turn to criminal behavior are in control of their impulses.

She speculated that incarcerated seniors may have had their thinking impaired by either dementia or depression.Nitz said 50 percent of people 85 years or older have dementia.Six percent of Americans 65 or older suffer from depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Nitz said certain people take solace in highly structured environments.The prison's daily regimens often are a great source of comfort to seniors and not unlike care and treatment provided to patients with Alzheimer's disease, she said.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)

With the widespread closing of mental institutions two decades ago, today's correctional facilities have taken the place of yesterday's mental hospitals, said Marie Nitz, program manager with MedClinic's Geriatric Network, which offers crisis intervention for seniors with mental health problems.

Nitz said she wonders how many seniors who suddenly turn to criminal behavior are in control of their impulses.

She speculated that dementia or depression may have impaired the thinking of incarcerated seniors.Nitz said 50 percent of people 85 years or older have dementia.Six percent of Americans 65 or older suffer from depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Nitz said certain people take solace in highly structured environments.The prison's daily regimens often are a great source of comfort to seniors and not unlike care and treatment provided to patients with Alzheimer's disease, she said.

"Either everybody refuses to take them and they just somehow struggle along," said Marie Nitz, program manager of Geriatric Network, which offers crisis intervention."Or they just plain get worse and probably die."

The county's Division of Mental Health won the planning grant from the California Department of Aging as one of 28 projects statewide to come up with innovations for long-term care.

...
But the center doesn't have the ability to take care of people who need oxygen to breathe or who have a heart condition or diabetic complications, said Nitz.

A person who is depressed is their own worst advocate, says Marie Nitz, a marriage and family counselor at MedClinic Medical Group's Behavioral Health Department/Geriatric Network.If you can not see the light at the end of the tunnel, how could you head for it?.

Compounding the problem, depression often accompanies illnesses that tend to affect older people.These illnesses include heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and thyroid conditions.And besides health problems, other factors that increase the risk of late-life depression include retirement, home relocation, diminishing financial security, collapsing social support, death of a spouse and loneliness.

With the widespread closing of mental institutions two decades ago, today's correctional facilities have taken the place of yesterday's mental hospitals, said Marie Nitz, program manager with MedClinic's Geriatric Network, which offers crisis intervention for seniors with mental health problems.

Nitz said she wonders how many seniors who suddenly turn to criminal behavior are in control of their impulses.

She speculated that incarcerated seniors may have had their thinking impaired by either dementia or depression.Nitz said 50 percent of people 85 years or older have dementia.Six percent of Americans 65 or older suffer from depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Nitz said certain people take solace in highly structured environments.The prison's daily regimens often are a great source of comfort to seniors and not unlike care and treatment provided to patients with Alzheimer's disease, she said.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)

The E.W. Scripps Co. © Read user agreement

In those cases, it's more complicated than just having social workers offering to help clean up the homes, said Marie Nitz, program manager of Geriatric Network for the Catholic Healthcare West Medical Foundation, which provides crisis mental health care for seniors.

"It becomes a problem when they lose all perspective of what's of use to them and what isn't, and when it becomes a risk," she said.

Nitz said family or friends who want to help should act slowly and seek the advice of a mental health counselor, county Adult Protective Services or a social worker.