With the acceleration of the aging process of my country's population, how to improve the quality of life and quality of life of the elderly has gradually attracted the attention of the whole society. Especially with the gradual improvement of my country's material and cultural living standards and the gradual increase in the life span of the elderly, how to improve the mental health care level of the elderly so that hundreds of millions of elderly can spend their old age in a happy state of mind and body has become a focus of our gerontology. One of the important topics discussed in the research field. This article attempts to explore several important issues in elderly mental health care from four aspects. The first is about the significance of mental health care for the elderly, the second is about the basic definition of mental health standards for the elderly, the third is how to understand and grasp several important factors of mental health care for the elderly, and the fourth is some suggestions for doing a good job in contemporary mental health care for the elderly. Below, the author will discuss these four aspects respectively, and I sincerely ask all experts and colleagues to provide criticism and guidance.

1. The significance of mental health care for the elderly

Mental health care and mental hygiene issues for the elderly are of great significance for the elderly to have a healthy body and a good mentality. . The traditional concept of health believes that being disease-free means being healthy. With the establishment of the modern medical model, people's understanding of health has undergone major changes. The new concept of health is that the body, mind and environment are in a state of peace and harmony, and that the body and mind are in harmony. The coordinated development of mentality means not only having a good body, but also having the best mental state. Modern medical science has proven that mental health and physical health are closely related. If mental health is not healthy, it will seriously affect the quality of life, and will eventually affect or even damage physical health. Therefore, learning mental health care knowledge, mastering mental health care methods, learning to live happily both physically and mentally, and establishing new concepts of mental health should be regarded as important conditions for every elderly person to live a healthy and long life in their later years.

Ji Kang, a famous health-preserving expert in my country's Wei and Jin Dynasties, pointed out in "Answers to Xiangzi Qi's Theory of Difficult Health Preservation": "There are five difficulties in keeping in good health. Fame and fortune are not eliminated. This is one difficulty; joy and anger are not eliminated. These two difficulties are There are three difficulties: the sound and color will not disappear; the four difficulties will be that the taste will not disappear; the five difficulties will be forwarded by the spirit. "If the five are not in the heart, then the trust will be smooth, the Xuande will be perfect, and there will be no joy." Blessed are those who do not seek longevity but extend themselves, this is the effect of the great principle of health preservation." ("Quan Sanguo Wen" Volume 48) Four of the five difficulties mentioned here are psychological, that is to say, almost all of them are related to psychology. related. It can be seen that when ancient health experts talked about health care, they mainly focused on mental health care. In modern society, mental health is an important part of the health concept under the physiological, psychological, and social medical models. It is also an indispensable content in the evaluation of the quality of life and health measurement of the elderly.

1. The physiological basis of mental health care for the elderly

Psychological research and life practice show that positive emotions are beneficial to physical health, while negative emotions have adverse effects on health. This is because emotions have their own physiological mechanisms. When a person is in an emotional state, it will cause a series of physiological reactions both externally and internally in the body. Physiological and psychological research shows that when people are angry, their heartbeat speeds up, often reaching 80-200 beats/min; blood pressure rises, with systolic blood pressure rising from the normal 130 mmHg to over 230 mmHg; breathing can reach 40-50 times per minute. Second-rate. When people are frightened or suddenly shocked, their breathing becomes stronger and shorter, or even interrupted; their heartbeat accelerates, up to 20 times per minute; and their blood pressure also increases accordingly. When people are anxious or depressed, gastrointestinal motility and the secretion of digestive juices will be inhibited. For the elderly, negative emotions such as depression, worry, and anger are often psychological factors that cause or stimulate certain diseases. For example, excessive depression or fear can lead to myocardial infarction, cerebral hemorrhage and other diseases. Clinical practice has proven that many cancer patients have experienced persistent negative emotions or suffered major emotional setbacks before the onset of cancer. Biological experiments show that negative emotional factors can reduce human brain activity, cause a decrease in immunity, and reduce the body's ability to fight cancer. When there are other internal and external factors, cancer can form. On the contrary, positive emotions can improve physical health and achieve the purpose of extending life. As the saying goes, "A smile saves ten years." According to research, laughter can increase activation levels within the body.

Find ways to vent your grief without being overwhelmed by it. Be able to rejoice in moderation when you are happy, rather than getting carried away and overly excited. When encountering difficulties, you can calmly use your will and experience to overcome them, instead of just sighing or complaining.

3. Have good interpersonal relationships. Be willing to help others and be willing to accept help from others. At home, you can maintain emotional harmony with your wife, children, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, grandson, granddaughter, nephew, etc., and gain heartfelt understanding and respect from your family. Outside, maintain good relationships with both past and current friends. I don’t seek perfection from others, I don’t demand too much from others, I don’t have a hostile attitude toward others, but I always treat others with a good attitude. Whether within a formal group or an informal group, there is a sense of collective honor and social responsibility.

4. Be able to correctly understand society and be consistent with the psychological activities of most people. For example, the views on society, attitudes towards reform, analysis of domestic and international situations, understanding of social morals and ethics, etc., can all be basically consistent with the attitudes of most people in society. If this is not the case, it means that we do not accept society and cannot keep pace with the progress of the times.

5. Able to maintain normal behavior. Able to maintain normal life, work, study, entertainment and other activities. All his actions are consistent with his identity and role in various situations.

The above five aspects are only the basic standards for defining the mental health of the elderly. Because many domestic and foreign experts and scholars have put forward many specific standards from their own research perspectives. But no matter how many standards there are, they all agree that the most important one is "basically normal", that is, speaking and doing things, understanding problems, logical thinking, interpersonal communication, etc. are all in a normal state. As long as they do not deviate from the "normal" track, their mental health is up to standard.

3. How to understand and grasp several important factors of mental health care for the elderly

The mental health of the elderly is determined by many factors. Roughly speaking, there are four aspects. One is physiological factors. As people age, their brains and other physiological functions begin to deteriorate. If brain aging can be effectively delayed at this time, it will undoubtedly be a good foundation for people's mental health. If the brain ages too quickly or the individual cannot adjust himself well, it may lead to psychological disorders. The second is environmental factors. People's mental health is directly related to the environment. If we live in a good and harmonious environment, people's mental health will have a good external environment. If you live in an environment where you are often exposed to vicious stimuli, you may develop bad psychology or even psychopathy. The third is life factors. Meaningful activities and good living habits are beneficial to people's mental health. Participating in some bad activities, such as gambling and alcoholism, will damage people's mental health. The fourth is cultural factors. A person with high cultural literacy will have a correct attitude towards life and can correctly handle all setbacks and misfortunes encountered on the road of life, without causing psychological disorders due to unexpected situations.

So, how can the elderly stay old but not old, live a long life but not decline, and take a high-quality life and a happy body and mind into their own hands? Based on the theory and practice of health care in ancient and modern my country, the author summarized it into four words, namely "dynamic", "benevolence", "wisdom" and "joy", which are summarized below for the reference of elderly friends.

1. "Move" means to exercise more. "Life lies in movement." Practice has proved that exercise not only delays aging, but biologists' research has proven that the human body "uses it or loses it", and the ancients have long proposed that "if you don't move, you will decline." A Japanese expert on elderly issues pointed out, “If you want to prolong your life, you must exercise in your old age.” Therefore, the elderly should pay attention to moderate physical exercise, step by step, and persevere. As the saying goes, "If you walk a hundred steps after a meal, you will live to be ninety-nine." This is the truth.

2. "Benevolence" means being kind-hearted and generous to others. "The benevolent live longer" has been confirmed by the practice of countless long-lived people. It can be seen in life that almost all long-lived elderly people are kind and kind. Research by American psychologists shows that sympathy and helping others are also beneficial to one's own mental health.

That is to say, mental health care for the elderly is not just a matter for medical institutions and retirement management departments, but for the whole society. There are elderly people in every house, and everyone will grow old. The whole society, from top to bottom, in all aspects, must pay attention to the work related to the mental health care of the elderly, and must take active measures to support the work of mental health care for the elderly, in order to continuously improve the awareness of the work of mental health care for the elderly in the whole society.

2. It is necessary to vigorously publicize successful examples of mental health care for the elderly and conduct extensive publicity and education on mental health care for the elderly. As far as we know, the level of popularization of mental health care for the elderly in our country is still very low. The urban elderly and educated elderly still know a little about it, but in the countryside, the vast majority of illiterate elderly people still know nothing about mental health care for the elderly. . It should be said that our tasks in this area are still very large. We must also use all favorable conditions to carry out extensive publicity and education, actively guide the elderly to keep up with the pace of the times, and establish a new concept of healthy mental health care for the elderly.

3． It is necessary to regularly organize and carry out seminars on elderly mental health care, and timely summarize and promote scientific knowledge and methods of elderly mental health care. It is necessary to use modern means such as the news media to organize some easy-to-understand special lectures on mental health care for the elderly and introduce some scientific and healthy mental health care methods. It is necessary to make full use of relevant organizations such as townships, communities, and retired work departments to carry out elderly mental health consultation service activities in places where the elderly are concentrated.

4. We should vigorously create a barrier-free environment for the elderly's mental health care, and build and launch the elderly's psychological barrier-free project in the whole society as soon as possible. The so-called "Psychological Barrier-free Project for the Elderly" is to establish in the whole society that everyone cares for and respects the elderly, and there are good facilities to care for and help the elderly everywhere. Wherever you live, you can feel the dignity and independence of your personality, and you can enjoy your old age carefree and in a comfortable mood. It should be said that this formulation seems a bit ahead of its time when our country's economy, culture, and social modernization are not yet developed enough. However, judging from the trend of population aging in our country and the current social status of mental health care for the elderly in our country, this idea as a long-term planning goal for aging work must be put forward as early as possible, in order to make some relevant ideological and public opinion preparations as early as possible. . In fact, this idea can be tested in some economically and culturally developed cities or regions in my country. Once progress or success is achieved, it will cause a positive demonstration effect across the country.