Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

Chapter 12 Complementary and Alternative Approaches 215
conditions and losses confronting older persons. CAM also may identify
and strengthen spiritual resources, especially important for some facing
illness, loss, and death.
This chapter includes descriptions of mindfulness, yoga, meditation,
rituals, spirituality, creative arts therapies, and herbal medicine. It is not
intended to be an all-inclusive survey of CAM therapies for older persons
as part of disaster preparedness. It is intended to describe the general
reasons that CAM might be effective and describe in detail several specific
treatments, applications, and recommendations. The application of
these modalities for professional and family caregivers is equally important.
Caregivers are the primary contact for older persons. If the caregiver
is distressed, the older person also will be distressed. CAM modalities offer
a means to heal and support both caregiver and care receiver.
MINDFULNESS-BASED APPROACHES:
LEARNING TO RESPOND, NOT REACT
Mindfulness is “ paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the
present moment, and non-judgmentally ”
— Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4
Mind-body interventions utilize the connections among the mind, body,
emotions, and spirit for healing. An individual’s personal experience may
have already informed much of what science is now validating — the mind
and body are connected! Not only obvious connections like stress headaches
or a nervous stomach, studies now connect high levels of stress
with lowered levels of cortisol, affecting our immune system’ s ability to
fight large and small diseases (Sapolsky, 2004). Of the CAM domains, mindbody
medicine is the most widely used. In 2002, a U.S. national study
confirmed that three mind-body relaxation techniques — imagery, biofeedback,
and hypnosis — taken together were used by more than 30% of
the adult population ( Wolsko, Eisenberg, Davis, & Phillips, 2004).
Mindfulness skills promote an ability to respond, rather than react, to
crisis. This section describes mindfulness skills and other interventions
that can be implemented mindfully. Mindfulness training has been shown
to reduce anxiety and strengthen immune response, offering preventative
tools for both mind and body (Baer, 2006; Davidson, et al., 2003; Didonna,
2008; Kabat-Zinn, 1982; Kabat-Zinn, Lipworth, Burney, & Sellers,
1986; Kabat-Zinn, et al., 1992; Stanley, 2009). Recent preliminary studies