Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in late life, taking its greatest toll on women over age 80. This article provides an overview of AD, including risk factors and counseling strategies targeting risk. Counseling strategies address stress, cardiovascular health, social integration, depression, and holistic wellness.
The life experiences of women, their educational and vocational opportunities, their access to health care, medications, and disease exposures may affect their risks of Alzheimer's Disease in ways that current research is only beginning to comprehend.
-Lerner, 1999, p. 1831
Among the many challenges encountered in late life, a diagnosis of dementia is particularly devastating. Not only does the diagnosis represent a personal tragedy for those with dementia, it portends a harrowing experience for families and other caregivers. One of the best known forms of dementia, dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), is a disorder that, as its name indicates, is an outcome of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) process. As is the case for all dementias, DAT presents affected individuals with an array of cognitive deficits and emotional struggles. Unlike most other forms of dementia, however, the impact of DAT is greater on women than it is on men (Baum, 2005).
Although DAT remains an incurable, dreaded disorder, contemporary research in the biomedical sciences suggests that there is some hope that the disease can be averted. There are, in fact, a host of strategies, many falling within the purview of counseling practice, which may be able to alter the progression of the AD process. This article explores the role of counseling in averting the devastating effects of DAT, giving particular attention to how counselors can help women in the fight against AD. It begins with an overview of the statistics, symptoms, etiology, pathology, and risk factors related to the disorder. Strategies for controlling the symptoms of DAT are then considered and are followed by