Oct 7, 2026 · 50 min · 11 segments
Lori Mars, director of the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), joins the show this week to explore elder abuse, ageism, and what can be done to prevent both. AgingIN CEO Susan Ryan sits down with…
Susan RyanHostSo the NCEA was formed by the US Administration for Aging actually in 1988 as a demonstration project as a national resource center dedicated to elder abuse prevention, identification, and response.
And then in 1992, it was given permanent status through amendments to the Older Americans Act.
We are housed at USC at the, in the Department of Family Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, and we provide all sorts of resources, information, training, education.
We provide policy information and research related to all aspects of elder abuse prevention and response to professionals, policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and the public.
We have an active social media presence, and we develop lots of materials all to create awareness and to help support individuals and professionals in the field.
So when we think about abuse- I think everybody probably has an idea of what that looks like.
But I'd love for you, when we talk about elder abuse, and differentiate it from neglect, because oftentimes people say it's neglect or it's abuse, and is there a difference? And so I'd love for you to kinda tease out some of that so we really all get on the same page.
Elder abuse is comprised of five or six, depending on how you look at it, different topic areas.
One is physical abuse, and that would include the use of physical force to inflict injury on an older adult, and it can manifest in many ways, like hitting, beating, slapping.
But it also includes any unlawful, unnecessary, or excessive use of force or coercion.
So we may not think about it, but it includes also something like force-feeding or chemical restraints or over-medicating someone or under-medicating someone.
And then there's psychological abuse, which is the infliction of emotional distress, anguish, and that can include things like intimidation, harassment, isolation.
Financial abuse, which includes the misappropriation of someone's money, property, or assets.
And then neglect, which is the refusal or inability to provide for all or any part of one's duties towards an older adult.
And then self-neglect, which includes an individual's inability to provide for their own financial or healthcare needs.
So typically, elder abuse embraces those categories, and I w-- I said five or six categories because self-neglect is not one of the traditional forms of abuse-
So the NCEA was formed by the US Administration for Aging actually in 1988 as a demonstration project as a national resource center dedicated to elder abuse prevention, identification, and response.
And then in 1992, it was given permanent status through amendments to the Older Americans Act.
We are housed at USC at the, in the Department of Family Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, and we provide all sorts of resources, information, training, education.
We provide policy information and research related to all aspects of elder abuse prevention and response to professionals, policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and the public.
We have an active social media presence, and we develop lots of materials all to create awareness and to help support individuals and professionals in the field.
So when we think about abuse- I think everybody probably has an idea of what that looks like.
But I'd love for you, when we talk about elder abuse, and differentiate it from neglect, because oftentimes people say it's neglect or it's abuse, and is there a difference? And so I'd love for you to kinda tease out some of that so we really all get on the same page.
Elder abuse is comprised of five or six, depending on how you look at it, different topic areas.
One is physical abuse, and that would include the use of physical force to inflict injury on an older adult, and it can manifest in many ways, like hitting, beating, slapping.
But it also includes any unlawful, unnecessary, or excessive use of force or coercion.
So we may not think about it, but it includes also something like force-feeding or chemical restraints or over-medicating someone or under-medicating someone.
And then there's psychological abuse, which is the infliction of emotional distress, anguish, and that can include things like intimidation, harassment, isolation.
Financial abuse, which includes the misappropriation of someone's money, property, or assets.
And then neglect, which is the refusal or inability to provide for all or any part of one's duties towards an older adult.
And then self-neglect, which includes an individual's inability to provide for their own financial or healthcare needs.
So typically, elder abuse embraces those categories, and I w-- I said five or six categories because self-neglect is not one of the traditional forms of abuse-
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