COVID-19 Impacting Mental Health of Seniors

A Weill Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry-led study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry detailed a program of neuroplasticity-based brain exercises designed to improve cognitive deficits and address geriatric depression, which the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating, reports WINK News . The double-blind study included 36 participants aged 60 to 89 with major depressive disorder, who did not realize remission after at least eight weeks of treatment with anti-depressives. Participants were randomized into either a neuroplasticity-based brain exercise intervention cohort or an active control cohort engaged in computerized education with equivalent time demands and support. "The exercises are attentionally demanding and filled with novelty and rewards in an effort to stimulate the production of acetylcholine, norepinephrine, and dopamine, which help with brain plasticity, learning, and mood," said Posit Science CEO Henry Mahncke. Fifty-eight percent of treatment-resistant subjects in the brain exercise group exhibited remission in depression versus 8 percent in the control group. "These study results seem particularly relevant at a time when a record number of seniors are being asked to maintain social distance, which we know is not good for mood, nor for cognitive performance," said Mahncke.