Emotions

• Article - Parkinson's Disease: A Guide to Mind and Mood

  A guide to the cognitive and behavioral symptoms common in Parkinson's disease, and how they can be treated.

• Article - Coping With the Psychological Issues of Hair Loss

  Hair loss from cancer treatment is a difficult issue for aging parents. This article offers guidance to help them cope.

• Interview - Talking With Hector Elizondo: When It Comes to Alzheimer's, Information Is Everything

  Alzheimer's activist and actor Hector Elizondo talks about caregiver burnout and how to prevent it.

• Interview - Talking With Peg Gordon

  Nursing home staff and others who work with the elderly often don't grasp what it feels like to be old. Xtreme Aging Training shows them.

• Interview - Talking With David Solie

  How geriatric psychologist and author David Solie dealt with care giving for his 87-year-old mother when she refused to leave her home.

• Article - Why Giving Up the Car Keys Is Such a Loaded Issue

  Why giving up the car keys is so traumatic for your elderly parents, and how to help prepare them for the day when they have to stop driving.

• Interview - Talking With David Kuhl

  David Kuhl, author of What Dying People Want, offers advice on how to have meaningful discussions with parents before they die.

• Interview - Talking With Tamara Jenkins

  The Savages director reflects on her real-life experience as a caregiver to her estranged father -- and why she wrote it differently for film.

• Interview - Talking With TV Personality Leeza Gibbons: Providing Support for Alzheimer's Caregivers

  Talk-show host Leeza Gibbons on her mother's struggle with Alzheimer's and her own support network for Alzheimer's caregivers, Leeza's Place.

• Interview - Talking With Bill Thomas

  Bill Thomas, an outspoken nursing home reformer, talks about why old age should be a time of growth, not decline, and how we can make that happen.

• Article - Planning Your Parents' Move: A Step-by-Step Guide

  How to help your parents make the move to assisted living or a nursing home. Avoid pitfalls and find the right situation for your parent.

• Interview - Talking With Lillian Rubin

  Lillian Rubin, psychotherapist and the author of 60 on Up, talks about caregiver guilt, dealing with dementia, and the problem with living too long.

Blog Posts

• Blog Post - Driving: A Love Story

  Giving up the car can be devastating for the elderly, but you can help your parents make the transition to life without a car.

• Blog Post - My mother has asked not to be resuscitated if she has a medical crisis, but my siblings disagree on what constitutes a medical crisis.

  Before she showed signs of dementia, my mother decided...

• Blog Post - 5 Surprising Ways to Use Memories to Help People With Memory Loss

  Reminiscence therapy improves mood and communication in people with Alzheimer's and dementia by prodding deeply-held memories.

• Blog Post - Tune in to PBS for Help and Hope on Caregiving

  A new PBS documentary, "Caring for Your Parents," is Reality TV of the purest form -- recognizing that family members now provide 80% of the eldercare in the United States.

• Blog Post - Caregiving Isn't for Sissies

  Caregiving requires courage, compassion, resourcefulness, and an open heart -- qualities that most of us would use to describe a hero.

• Blog Post - Help! My mom's in hospice and my sister and I are arguing about her funeral.

  Our mom has said she wants to be cremated "so you don...

• Blog Post - Dementia Caregivers: You Really Ought to Talk About It

  New study shows one on one therapy helps reduce the burden on caregivers and their depressive symptoms.

• Blog Post - My mother is gambling away every last penny -- and her financial independence. What should I do?

  Since my father's death two years ago, my 75-year-old...

• Blog Post - Sandwich Generation "Massively Stressed"

  A new study of sandwich generation women, caring for children and aging parents, finds them ill-prepared for the massive stresses of care giving.

• Blog Post - Alzheimer's Caregivers' #1 Challenge

  A new survey of Alzheimer's caregivers reveals that daily care isn't the worst of it. Grief is.

• Blog Post - How Retirement Is Changing

  A rundown of emotional and financial issues facing current and future retirees.

• Blog Post - Alcohol Abuse Among Seniors -- the Last Taboo Subject

  Alcohol abuse among seniors still tends to be secret, but new data show it's more common than most people suspect. A guide to how to talk about it.

Questions & Answers

• Question - How can I get over my anger at my mother regarding my father's care?

  My mother refused to accept help in caring for my father, and he's going downhill fast after a fall. I'm furious with my mother, and am having a hard time getting over my anger and moving on.

• Question - What can I do about my emotionally dependent mother?

  My mother is dependant and miserable -- and making me miserable, too.

• Question - How do we deal with my father-in-law's denial that his wife is dying?

  Sometimes family members who are in denial about an impending death may listen more directly to a more objective person, such as a doctor.

• Question - How can I help my parent accept her eye disease?

  This question has been answered by a Caring.com Expert

• Question - How do I gently correct my mother-in-law, who has had brain surgery, when she calls my daughters the wrong name?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - How can I help my mom, who seems really down about her diabetes diagnosis?

  Offers guidance on helping your parent deal with depression following a diabetes diagnosis.

• Question - How do I talk to my elderly father about dying?

  To get guidance about how to talk with a parent about dying, pay attention to what you learned about his or her comfort level during past conversations.

• Question - A friend tells me I am emotional over having ovarian cancer. How can you not be emotional facing recurrances or dying?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - My mother is acting insecure; how can I help her and maintain my own marriage?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - Can my sister put my mother away in a nursing home without asking the rest of the children?

  One sibling may have the right to help arrange nursing home care for a parent, but it feels wrong not to consult other family members about the decision.

Tips & Reflections

• Reflection - What I Wish I'd Known About Caregiving Priorities: Caring.com Expert/Geriatric Psychologist David Solie

  David Solie, author of How to Say It to Seniors: Closing the Communication Gap With Our Elders, says comforting parents is a critical part of care giving.

• Reflection - What I Wish I'd Known About Talking to a Dying Parent: Palliative Care Doctor David Kuhl

  David Kuhl, author of What Dying People Want, reflects on why parents need to have meaningful discussions with their children before they die.

• Reflection - What I Wish I'd Known About Elders' Nonphysical Needs: Xtreme Aging Trainer Peg Gordon

  Xtreme Aging trainer Peg Gordon on finding a facility that tends to an elder's personal needs -- needs her grandmother's nursing home left unmet.

• Reflection - What I Wish I'd Known About Nursing Homes: Geriatrician Bill Thomas

  Geriatrician Bill Thomas, founder of innovative senior housing alternatives, explains why he launched a mission to revolutionize nursing home care.