American Psychiatric Foundation to fund KUAF series regarding mental health

Psychiatry :: American Psychiatric Foundation to fund KUAF series regarding mental health

University of Arkansas public radio station KUAF 91.3 FM has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the American Psychiatric Foundation for the production of a year-long five-part series of in-depth reports on mental health and the elderly.

Working in collaboration with renowned geriatrician David A. Lipschitz, M.D., Ph.D., and the Schmieding Center for Senior Health and Education of Northwest Arkansas, KUAF news producer and NPR correspondent Jacqueline Froelich will examine the latest research and science recognizing and treating chronic depression and anxiety, mental health issues among elderly people of color, chronic confabulation and dementia, underdiagnosis or misdiagnosis of mental health problems in the elderly, and the lack of, or improper treatment for, these conditions.

"This series will help adult children better cope with caring for aging parents, a realm with which most of us are ill-prepared," said Froelich. "And with more than 70 million so-called baby boomers surging into old age, the series will also inform those listeners about some of the psychological obstacles they may expect to encounter."