Kathryn Douthit, chair of counseling and human development at the University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education, suggests that counseling intervention could play a major role in delaying, if not preventing, the onset of Alzheimer’s dementia for the millions of people affected by this disease each year.
Counseling interventions across the lifespan addressing stress management, depression prevention and intervention, social integration, and holistic wellness—including diet, exercise, spirituality, self-direction, optimization of work and leisure experiences, friendships, and love relationships—play a significant part in decreasing the chances of developing Alzheimer’s later in life, she says.
Douthit, whose background before becoming a counselor was in biomedical sciences, is a counselor educator who bridges the worlds of social and biomedical sciences. She began investigating Alzheimer’s Disease because of a long-standing interest in gerontology. She focuses her research on a diversity of subjects, including aging and wellness, the inequality of the aging experience, a critical view of contemporary dementia care, and the use of autoethnography as a therapeutic tool in elder intervention. Her work has also contributed to counselors’ understanding of the relationship between counseling and psychiatric genetics.
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