When I Was Growing Up…How were older adults in my family treated? What did I observe about the treatment of older adults in society? How were people with mental or emotional disorders viewed? What language was used to describe aging, old age, and older adults with altered mental function? What words did my family use, and what was the connotative meaning of the words used, to describe older adults? Was it positive, negative, or mixed? What things were going on in the area, country, world that affected how mental illness was addressed?