Abstract
Why does the aspect of aging justify aspecial survey of resilience to the development of mental disorders? Patterns of chronic stress burden change with age (e. g. disappearance of workplace-related stress, but increased risk of frequent chronic diseases). Moreover, capabilities and cognitive strategies of stress coping differ between young and older adults. The article summarizes relevant age aspects of resilience to mental disorders and evaluates the current knowledge concerning consecutive development of prevention strategies for avoidance of affective disorders and dementia. Stress-aggravating reduced cognitive functioning (especially executive problem solving) can be observed together with, probably stress-reducing, age-specific appraisal preferences (positivity effect) in older persons. Other age-specific aspects are resilience mechanisms against cognitive decline and dementia development despite cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative brain pathology-related conditions, which are referred to as cognitive reserve. Different cognitive reserve enhancing strategies can effectively contribute to dementia prevention.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
