Thank you to the Parkinson's Association of Santa Barbara!

Thank you to the Parkinson's Association of Santa Barbara for Having Me Present Last Week on How Parkinson's Affects Cognition

It was a pleasure to provide a zoom lecture for the Santa Barbara Parkinson’s Association last week. The Parkinson’s Association of Santa Barbara (PASB) was founded in 1978 and was the first Parkinson’s group in California. They provide information monthly meetings on topics related to Parkinson’s and also offer symposia for medical providers, making them a wonderful resource for the Santa Barbara community.

I spoke for about an hour on the topic of Parkinson’s disease. However, although we usually focus on the movement difficulties associated with Parkinson’s, in this talk the focus was on the thinking difficulties that can accompany this illness, including what about Parkinson’s causes problems with memory and concentration, but more importantly what steps we can take to protect our brains as we age.

INTERESTED IN WATCHING THE TALK?

It is available for free on our online classes site, insightneuropsych.teachable.com. The site will require you to register, but the class is free. While you are there, feel free to check out the other classes we offer on the aging brain and caregiving.

The video class is broken up into 5 digestible video chunks, including:

• Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease: Causes and Prevalence

• Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease: How It Presents

• Dementia in Parkinson’s Disease

• How to Age Well

---

Know the Risk Factors of Dementia?

It can be difficult to know when something is wrong. There are normal changes associated with aging, and many other issues can masquerade as dementia. For this reason, I created a book on how to understand the aging brain, recognize signs of dementia, and how to understand the treatment, work effectively with doctors, and remain an effective caregiver. My book is now in its second edition, and I have added a workbook to help families.

---

Does My Mom Have Dementia?: How to Recognize and Deal with Dementia in Your Loved Ones Buy on Amazon

A Roadmap for Dementia: A Workbook for Families by the Author of Does My Mom Have Dementia? Buy on Amazon

Everyone deserves to understand their brain, how it ages, and is it healthy. Our books provide a roadmap to help you determine if you should be concerned and how you can help yourself and your loved ones. This includes learning about the types of dementia, conditions that can be mistaken for dementia, how to interact with doctors, and what treatments and care is out here.

Our new workbook helps to provide worksheets and tools to support you and your loved one with that the stresses that can arise with dementia, be it due to Alzheimer’s disease, vascular disease or Lewy body disease.

In particular, “A Roadmap for Dementia“ provides tools to help:

• Create a memory book to support your loved one and assist caregivers

•  Develop a strategy to understand behaviors seen in dementia

•  Learn to cope with agitation and psychosis

•  and for communicating effectively with your loved ones with dementia

---

Perhaps you are more of a watcher than a reader

We have also created a series of online video classes focused on understanding the brain and dementia, caregiving strategies, how to keep our brains strong, and even a video course on how to make the holidays a little easier for your loved one with dementia.

CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW TO CHECK OUT OUR COURSES

Want to talk about these issues in person? Please feel free to reach out to us.

---

Interested in booking a talk or training for your group?

click below

Thank you to the California Association of PA/PG/PCs!

Thank you to the California State Assoc of Public Administrators, Public Guardians and Public Conservators for having me speak at your convention this week!

I really had the opportunity to learn a lot about the work of the Public Guardian’s office and how best to support them over these last few days here in Palm Springs. I also had the opportunity to hear experts in their field discuss topics such as suicide prevention and crisis intervention, as presented by Sergeant Kevin Briggs, known as the guardian of the Golden Gate for his work preventing suicides while in the California Highway Patrol, and Dr. LaVonna Lewis from USC, who helped us explore awareness of our own bias and its effects on our interactions with others.

My presentations at the conference included

Excessive Persuasion: From Undue Influence to Scam Victimization

and

Interviewing the Cognitively Impaired

---

Know the Risk Factors That Make Older Adults Susceptible to Financial Abuse?

It can be difficult to know when something is wrong. Much financial abuse occurs in secret. In many cases the bad actors themselves train their victims not to tell anyone about what is going on. There are signs that you can watch for and things you can do to protect your loved ones though. The issues related to older adults falling victim to scams or undue influence are so significant that when I created the second edition of my book, I added a whole chapter on the topic.

Have You Heard of Undue Influence?

Another type of financial exploitation to mention is somewhat harder to detect. It is the concept of undue influence, which people with dementia can be particularly vulnerable to due to their cognitive impairment. Undue influence is often used to manipulate an older adult into changing estate plans or giving large gifts to the influencer, even when it is not in the older adult’s best interest. Whereas scams use advertising techniques, undue influence uses the development of a strong relationship. Essentially the bad actor develops a special and trusted relationship with the older adult. This is sometimes seen with caregivers, where a caregiver who was hired to care for an older adult with dementia develops a strong bond with the person and then purposely starts to manipulate the older adult with dementia. Often the issue does not become obvious until some financial cost has occurred, or family or friends begin to recognize the influence that the bad actor has developed.

  Besides cognitive impairment, risk factors for undue influence include dependence and isolation. The victim may become dependent on the bad actor for things like food, transportation, and even financial management. Isolation contributes as the victim feels that they have no one else to turn to and so instead they focus on the bad actor. The bad actor will themselves usually encourage isolation and dependency.

Resources to Report Scams and Fraud

 National Elder Fraud Hotline

Provides case managers for support and resources

1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311)

www.justice.gov/stopelderfraud

Federal Trade Commission

Helps government identify victims and track these crimes

www.FTC.gov

FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center

Helps government identify victims and track these crimes

www.IC3.gov

---

Does My Mom Have Dementia?: How to Recognize and Deal with Dementia in Your Loved Ones Buy on Amazon

A Roadmap for Dementia: A Workbook for Families by the Author of Does My Mom Have Dementia? Buy on Amazon

Everyone deserves to understand their brain, how it ages, and is it healthy. Our books provide a roadmap to help you determine if you should be concerned and how you can help yourself and your loved ones. This includes learning about the types of dementia, conditions that can be mistaken for dementia, how to interact with doctors, and what treatments and care is out here.

Our new workbook helps to provide worksheets and tools to support you and your loved one with that the stresses that can arise with dementia, be it due to Alzheimer’s disease, vascular disease or Lewy body disease.

In particular, “A Roadmap for Dementia“ provides tools to help:

• Create a memory book to support your loved one and assist caregivers

•  Develop a strategy to understand behaviors seen in dementia

•  Learn to cope with agitation and psychosis

•  and for communicating effectively with your loved ones with dementia

---

Perhaps you are more of a watcher than a reader

We have also created a series of online video classes focused on understanding the brain and dementia, caregiving strategies, how to keep our brains strong, and even a video course on how to make the holidays a little easier for your loved one with dementia.

CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW TO CHECK OUT OUR COURSES

Want to talk about these issues in person? Please feel free to reach out to us.

---

Interested in booking a talk or training for your group?

click below

Exciting News! A New Book And The 2nd Edition of Our First Book

Do You Recognize the Early Warning Signs of Dementia?

Need Straightforward Tools to Help a Loved One With Dementia?

Exciting news then! The second edition of our book, “Does My Mom Have Dementia?” is now out. In addition, I have written a workbook that can accompany the book or stand on its own. It offers tools and worksheets to help make your loved one more comfortable and to help you and your family cope better with the situation.

Sometimes we have concerns about loved ones or ourselves:

• Was that really just a senior moment?

• Are my memory lapses serious?

• Why can’t she think of the word she wants?

There are many normal changes in thinking abilities that occur as we age. Primarily we experience slowed speed of information processing. This means it may take longer for us to learn new information or figure things out.

We also start to struggle with more complex concentration. Think about driving. Do you drive a bit slower now then when you were young? That’s because your brain is automatically adjusting your behavior to match your abilities. Your brain is having a bit more trouble keeping track of what is happening around it, so you need to drive a bit slower.

These two issues, slowed processing and decreased complex attention, are actually the reason many of us think that we lose our memory as we age. We really don’t, but it is easier to be distracted or rushed. If we can’t pay adequate attention we are not going to remember something later, as we never learned it in the first place.

True memory loss is a serious issue. Our book, “Does My Mom Have Dementia” can help you recognize this when it is present and also help you consider other factors contributing to your brain’s current state of health. Being informed is one of best things you can do to keep your brain and your loved ones’ brain strong as we all age.

Does My Mom Have Dementia?: How to Recognize and Deal with Dementia in Your Loved Ones Buy on Amazon

A Roadmap for Dementia: A Workbook for Families by the Author of Does My Mom Have Dementia? Buy on Amazon

---

Everyone deserves to understand their brain, how it ages, and is it healthy. Our books provide a roadmap to help you determine if you should be concerned and how you can help yourself and your loved ones. This includes learning about the types of dementia, conditions that can be mistaken for dementia, how to interact with doctors, and what treatments and care is out here.

Our new workbook helps to provide worksheets and tools to support you and your loved one with that the stresses that can arise with dementia, be it due to Alzheimer’s disease, vascular disease or Lewy body disease.

In particular, “A Roadmap for Dementia“ provides tools to help:

• Create a memory book to support your loved one and assist caregivers

•  Develop a strategy to understand behaviors seen in dementia

•  Learn to cope with agitation and psychosis

•  and for communicating effectively with your loved ones with dementia

---

Perhaps you are more of a watcher than a reader

We have also created a series of online video classes focused on understanding the brain and dementia, caregiving strategies, how to keep our brains strong, and even a video course on how to make the holidays a little easier for your loved one with dementia.

CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW TO CHECK OUT OUR COURSES

Want to talk about these issues in person? Please feel free to reach out to us.

---

Interested in booking a talk or training for your group?

click below

COVID-19 Scams and Seniors

Scams are an unfortunate part of our reality. From IRS scams to romance scams, there are more ways than ever for unsavory characters to steal your hard earned money.

This fact is even more sobering when it comes to seniors. Even in seniors that are aging normally without any dementia condition, their aging brains put them at much higher risk of being scammed. It is estimated that seniors lose close to $3 billion each year to scams. One of the most important ways this risk can be lessened is by keeping seniors, their loved ones, and care professionals up to date on the most prevalent scams. In 2020, we find ourselves in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seniors are one of the populations considered at-risk of serious consequences from contracting the virus. This increased fear and the general lifestyle changes caused by COVID-19 have led to new ways for scammers to take advantage of older adults.

In this post, we will share the top 5 current scams that are targeting seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide some advice for staying safe from these new and devastating scams.

Contact Tracing Scams

What’s The Scam?

Contact tracing is the process of identifying people who have come in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. The purpose is to warn these people that they should quarantine themselves and continuously monitor their symptoms. Contact tracing is understood to play an essential role in stopping the spread of COVID-19. A real contact tracer is someone hired by the state department of public health. They work with an infected individual to get names and contact information for people that the infected individual came into close contact with while infectious. This information is kept in an online system, and the contact tracer never asks the individuals that they contact for personal information such as bank or Social Security information.

Currently, scammers are sending text messages pretending to be contact tracers. Most of these texts will include a link that you are asked to click. A key difference between fraudulent and legitimate contact tracing texts is that real contact tracing only texts to inform you that they will be calling. They will never ask you to click on a link.

Clicking the false links in these text messages can download software onto your device, giving scammers access to your personal information. They may also follow up and directly ask for bank account numbers, social security number, or other important personal information.

Why it Works

By using official language, scammers rely on a sense of authority to convince victims to trust them. Since contact tracing is a real and legitimate strategy being employed by state governments, seniors may have heard the term before, which further creates a false sense of comfort.

What You Can Do

Never provide bank information or other personal information, such as your social security number, to someone through text message. Your phone or wireless provider may also have options to filter or block unknown senders or spam. When in doubt, ask them to call you or share the text with a trusted loved one to get their opinion. There are very few circumstances where clicking a link through an unsolicited text message.

Stimulus Check Scams

What’s the Scam?

By now, most Americans have received a stimulus payment from the government in response the the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus outbreak. If you have not yet received your check, you can use the IRS tool to determine your eligibility and when you may get paid. Although the first round of stimulus payments have mostly been distributed, it is possible that the American public may see additional financial aid coming through in the following weeks or months. Therefore, scammers still have an opportunity to prey upon seniors hoping for some financial relief.

Scammers have been posing as IRS or other government entities to convince individuals that they need personal information such as bank account numbers, social security numbers, or government benefit card information. Typically, they will inform the contacted individual that their stimulus check is ready, but additional information is necessary to process the transaction. They might also claim that a fee must be paid in order to get the money, which is a common lie in financial scams.

Why it Works

Many seniors are living in a time of financial uncertainty. If they owe money due to a mortgage or other bills and their livelihood has been effected by the coronavirus, they may be counting on the stimulus money to get by. Using visceral rewards such as money is one way that scammers bypass critical thinking and cause seniors to act on impulse.

What You Can Do

Remember that the IRS will never contact you via text message, email, or social media with information about your stimulus check. There are no fees associated with the stimulus benefit and anyone asking you to pay a fee or return a portion of the deposited money is a scammer. Using the IRS tool is the best way to track your check and anyone contacting you directly regarding the check through one of the methods mentioned above should be blocked.

Testing Kit Scams

What’s the Scam?

With all of the uncertainty about who might be a COVID-19 carrier and the fact that people can carry the infection without actively showing symptoms, it would be very nice if there was a convenient way to test yourself for the infection at home. Unfortunately, there are no home-based tests at this time. This hasn’t stopped scammers from offering them, however.

Currently, scammers are contacting individuals by phone, email, or text message to offer COVID-19 testing kits. It has also been reported that some of these scammers are attempting to sell fake at-home testing kits door to door. The primary purpose of this scam is simply to get individuals to send the scammers money. However, there is another variant of this scam in which the scammer will post as a government official stating that the individual is required to take a COVID-19 test. In these cases, the scammer will often ask for your health insurance information, such as Medicare or Social Security numbers. They will then use this information to bill insurance for services that were not actually rendered and keep the reimbursement.

Why it Works

Seniors are especially at risk of this scam and similar scams due to personal and emotional factors. Rather than focusing on the economic anxiety of the situation, scammers are preying upon senior’s desire to prove that they are healthy so that they may have contact with loved ones such as grandchildren. Seniors are also aware that they are an at-risk population when it comes to severe consequences from COVID-19 infection, so their physical health is likely a constant concern during this period of time.

What You Can Do

The most important thing someone can do to avoid falling prey to scams related to tests and other health-related products is to stay informed about the current status of COVID-19 testing and treatment by using official sources such as the CDC. Currently there are no at-home test kits that have been approved for public use. Anyone offering to sell you a test-kit is most likely attempting to scam you.

Charity Scams

What’s the Scam?

During this period of collective hardship, many legitimate charities have popped up. Examples of real charities that you may come across include charities providing personal protective equipment to healthcare workers and those sending money directly to individuals financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, during times of increased aid, scammers often ramp up their efforts to swindle honest people out of their money.

Fake charity scammers may contact you in a variety of ways including pre-recorded robocalls, email, or text message. These scammers will either make up their own official sounding charity name or use the name of a real existing charity to earn your trust. They might ask for for direct donations or personal information such as bank account info.

Why it Works

By using the names of real charities and sometimes going as far as to create official looking websites or letterhead, charity scammers create the illusion of authority, which can make seniors overlook warning signs that the charity may not be legitimate. The fact that there are also many new charities related to coronavirus that have been created also means that it can be hard to keep track of which are real.

What You Can Do

It is very rare that a real charity will ever send you a confusing robocall. If you get a robocall, you can just ignore it. If you receive another form of communication from a charity, take the time to do some research before deciding to send them your money. Use an online search engine to search the charity name. You can also use watchdog groups such as Charity Watch or Charity Navigator to look up their information.

Typically, real charities will request money but will not be mean or pushy with you. If you are pushed to make an immediate decision about donating money, this could be a warning sign. You can always ask them to call back another time, which would give you time to research the legitimacy of the organization.

Lastly, watch out for the payment method that the charity is asking for. A legitimate charity will never ask you to purchase some form of gift card or ask for information to make a wire transfer.

Fake Cure Scams

What’s the Scam?

The coronavirus is scary, deadly, and inconvenient. Of course people are yearning for a cure or some effective means to prevent the virus from infecting themselves and their loved ones. This has lead to a huge influx of fake and unproven treatments for the coronavirus. These are sometimes marketed through email or regular post. They have also become extremely prevalent on social media sites such as Facebook. Advertisements might tout essential oils, teas, colloidal silver, or intravenous vitamin C as cures or proven ways to prevent the virus. Add to this the rampant misinformation and conspiracy theories that have been circulating regarding COVID-19 and it’s no wonder that these scams are so effective.

Why it Works

As with the testing kits, seniors are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 cure scams due to their status as an at-risk population. With their physical health at risk, they are very motivated to find something that can protect themselves from the threat. Visceral motivators such as physical health can tap into the more primitive parts of the aging brain to cause seniors to make decisions based on fear rather than logic.

What You Can Do

There are currently NO proven treatments or preventative measures for COVID-19. Current treatments are aimed at managing symptoms and helping someone ride out the infection. Further, many of the unproven cures that are advertised online may actually cause harm, especially in seniors. If you have a question about a treatment or supplement that you see, call your doctor before purchasing. Also keep in mind that if there were a miracle cure or prevention method for this virus, the numbers would be much lower than they are now.

Conclusion

Scams are nothing new. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, scammers are finding new opportunities to prey upon our fears and uncertainties to take away our money and other resources. Seniors are especially vulnerable, whether or not they have memory problems or other age-related issues.

To learn more about why aging causes people to become more easily scammed, check out our brand new online course, Scams and the Aging Brain.

In this three-lesson course, licensed neuropsychologist, Erik Lande, Ph.D., covers how scams work, why normal aging increases scam risk, how to help someone who has been scammed, and how to prevent seniors from being scammed in the first place.

Want to talk about these issues in person? Please feel free to reach out to us.

---

Interested in booking a talk or training for your group?

click below

Stop Senior Scams Event Tomorrow

Ventura County Adult Abuse Prevention Council is sponsoring an event tomorrow in Ventura for seniors focusing on scams and how to protect yourself. The Stop Seniors Scams Acting Program will be presenting a series of skits on scams. Adult Protective Services will also have speakers present to talk about what is being seen in the county right now.

If you are interested, the event is at Cypress Place in Ventura, 1200 Cypress Point Lane at 1:30PM tomorrow, February 20, 2020.

Want to talk about these issues in person? Please feel free to reach out to us.

---

Interested in booking a talk or training for your group?

click below

Happy Valentine's Day from your Brain!

Sometimes we wonder how our brains relate to the bigger mysteries of life, like what is the soul, consciousness, or why we fall fall in love.

Luckily CNN just posted a nice illustrated article explaining a good part of how love occurs in our brain. Check it out, and don’t worry, it maintains a bit of mystery.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/14/health/brain-on-love-wellness/index.html

Want to talk about these issues in person? Please feel free to reach out to us.

---

Interested in booking a talk or training for your group?

click below

2 Talks for the Public in March - On Conservatorship and on Downsizing as We Age

When Conservatorship is a Good Idea

by Christopher P. Young, ESQ and Erik Lande, Ph.D.

Will present the legal and the psychological perspectives of conservatorship.

As part of the Ventura County Adult Abuse Prevention Council Series

Cost: $12 per person, which includes lunch

Tuesday March 19th at 11:30 AM.

At Pacifica Senior Living Oxnard - 2211 E. Gonzales Rd., Oxnard, CA 93036

Please RSVP: info@VCAAPC.org

View fullsize

---

Downsizing: Staying or Moving

Sponsored by the Camarillo Council on Aging, Dr. Lande will be part of a panel discussing the physical aspects of downsizing and moving to a smaller home, as well as the emotional impact and what resources are available to help coping when making such a transition.

Free to the Public, and sponsored by the Camarillo Council on Aging.

Thursday, March 28, 2019 at 10 AM in the community room of the Camarillo Library

View fullsize

Dr. Lande's article on chronic scam victimization in the elderly has published!

Here is the link to the article. I co-authored it with Debbie Deem, FBI Victim Advocate Specialist. This addition of the Journal focuses on Elder Justice issues, and so we discuss chronic scam victimization of the elderly, including contributing factors and ways to address it with government and local community resources. 

It is in the US Attorney Bulletin, AKA Department of Justice Journal of Federal Law and Practice

Transnational Scam Predators and Older Adult Victims: Contributing Characteristics of Chronic Victims and Developing an Effective Response - by Debbie Deem and Erik Lande

https://www.justice.gov/usao/page/file/1121446/download
It is page 181 of the pdf (which is actually page 177 of the journal itself)

See Dr. Lande and Dr. Duff speak at the GeroPsych breakfast in LA!

Dr. Lande and Dr. Duff were invited to speak at the Los Angelese County Dept. of Mental Health Gero-Psychiatric Breakfast in December due to their expertise in understanding scams and seniors' susceptibility. 

We spoke along with Debbie Deem of the FBI and Dr. Sarah Gelberd.

Here is a link to a video of the speech along with our powerpoint slides.

http://lacountymediahost.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=6451