Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

Where to Find a Therapist
Chapter 12 Complementary and Alternative Approaches 221
Creative arts therapies address multiple therapeutic needs through the
medium of art-based activities and interventions. Such therapies play an
important role in the treatment of individuals when verbal approaches
alone are not effective. It is especially true in the area of adult trauma,
where an individual’s impaired cognition may impede his or her ability to
understand and respond to a sudden change in environment or otherwise
normal circumstances. Most creative arts therapy associations maintain a
national roster where you can locate a therapist in your area.
THE USE OF HERBAL MEDICINE TO PROMOTE AND
PROTECT THE MENTAL HEALTH OF GERIATRIC
PATIENTS DURING DISASTERS
Herbal Remedies as a Gateway to Mental Health
The growing field of zoopharmacognosy 2 demonstrates that we have
evolved as a species that uses plants as medicine. Mental health is ultimately
an expression of relationships: with ourselves, with other people,
and with the world around us. Using medicinal plants can be part of returning
to a more interactive, natural, and healthy relationship with our
world, particularly in promoting good mental health.
In disasters, the sympathetic nervous response, which is expressed as
fight or flight, will most likely be stimulated to an unnatural degree. In the
general population, this fight-or-flight response can serve a crucial biological
role as the increased alertness and adrenal activity may be needed to
deal with the urgent situation. However, an older patient dependent on
caregivers for basic tasks will derive little benefit from being in a stimulated,
sympathetic state during an emergency or disaster. The situation
will need to be controlled when the duration of the excited state is excessive
or leads to anxiety or panic or is experienced by a debilitated or frail
patient. Furthermore, the adrenal stress response can trigger a cascade of
secondary physical effects including hypertension, elevated blood glucose
levels, tachycardia, suppressed immune response, and impaired digestion.
Therefore, the mental and emotional reaction to a disaster, significant and
challenging enough on its own, can snowball into a much more serious
and complex medical emergency if uncontrolled in a frail older person.
In the most obvious sense, physical discomfort or pain can have a profound
impact on mental health and vice versa, increasing the multitude