Aging With and Without Dementia

By Steven E. Rubin, MD

Is it inevitable? Does everyone who lives long enough eventually develop dementia? Might dementia be prevented, modified, or even reversed?

Aging is as natural as leaves changing color at summer's end. We may be powerless against time and occurrences of nature, but we are not helpless when it comes to growing old with health and grace. Tending to good health throughout life results in aging with dignity.

In Autumn Leaves, Steven Rubin, a psychiatrist specializing in geriatric medicine, offers common-sense insights into the biological and psychological changes that confront us all, beginning in the middle years and progressing through late life, a stage the author has termed gerolescence. Who gets dementia, who doesn't, and why? Autumn Leaves not only addresses intellectual, emotional, and behavioral declines, but also provides a framework for evaluating, correctly diagnosing, and treating them with and without medications. You'll learn how to approach and manage the losses, challenges, and opportunities that accompany the aging process.

Steven Rubin, MD, has written a book that looks at growing older, with and without dementia. Autumn Leaves asks--and answers--the crucial question, How to you want to live your remaining seasons?