What is old age depression?

Answer 1

What is Old Age Depression articleI found this article on what depression is and what its effects are. Summary Depression is a mental health disorder of serious concern in older adults. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), an estimated two million of the nearly 35 million Americans over the age of 65 years have some form of diagnosable depression. An additional five million of these individuals have significant symptoms that do not meet the full diagnostic criteria for the disorder.

Depression is frequently undiagnosed and untreated because it is often overlooked or considered normal or inevitable. This is especially true in the face of other medical conditions and life events (e.g., death of loved ones) that frequently affect older adults. However, depression is never a normal part of the aging process.

Many older adults may be particularly susceptible to the numerous complications and other risks of depression. For example, depression appears to be more likely to lead to suicide in older adults than in younger patients. Adults over the age of 65 years make up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, according to NIMH, but they make up 18 percent of all suicide deaths.

The causes of depression are still not fully understood, but a number of advances have been made in identifying potential factors. Most likely, a combination of genetic and environmental factors is involved. Depression tends to run in families and may be triggered by stress (e.g., death of a loved one). Depression is more common in women and people with chronic medical conditions.

The signs and symptoms of depression in older adults may differ from those in younger patients. Among the most common changes of mood in older adults with depression are feelings of nervousness, emptiness, restlessness, irritability or being unloved. Reduced appetite and weight loss, insomnia (not sleeping enough), fatigue, memory problems and confusion are also common in these patients. Older adults may be more likely than younger patients to display vague physical symptoms (e.g., aches and pains).

Depression in older adults is poorly recognized even among physicians. Many individuals, including many physicians, view depression as normal or expected for older adults. This belief is not true and often deters or delays proper diagnosis and treatment. When it is properly recognized, the diagnosis of depression involves a complete medical history, including information about the onset, duration and severity of symptoms.

Older patients with mild depression may respond well with psychotherapy alone, whereas those with moderate to severe depression may require antidepressant medication. However, the outcome of treatment is generally best with a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Older adults are often more sensitive than younger patients to medication side effects and are more likely to have other medical conditions. Because of this, selective serotonin re uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are prescribed more frequently than older antidepressants.

If you need more info go to http:/emotionalzperiodzhealthzperiodzivillagezperiodzcom/depressionbipolar/depressioninolderadultszperiodzcfm where there is an 8 page article on Depression on the elderly and really good videos to watch to explain further

OLD AGE NOTHING ... THE ELDERLY ARE IGNORED!We are dying from the day we are born! Basically too much is taken for granted when it comes to the elderly and they are often tossed aside like a piece of garbage. I am making a statement (I'm angry) that there are many elderly people who could still work (even part-time) or to be made feel useful by society as a whole or by family if given the patience and time. Too often companies feel "that old person can't handle the job" or the family doesn't have the patience to let their elderly parent do things their way in their time. As long as it gets done who cares! I was a caregiver to my father, my mother and my husband's parents and I enjoyed many moments with them. My father (59) had a second stroke and once again lost his speech. The speech therapist turned her back on him and said there was no way he'd ever speak again. I was so infuriated I drudged up a way to help my father. I made up cards e.g. with a cut-out picture of a table, chair, etc., and the word printed to the right of it. With patients from family and myself we got my father speaking enough that I phoned the therapist and she was still going to decline working with my father until I shamed her into it. When she saw my father she couldn't believe how far he had come and she started to work with him and he got his full speech back. My method ... if there is breath in that person "never say never!!!" It's important not to baby the elderly, to give them your patience, time, and to realize they have possibly lived a very interesting life and perhaps if you choose to listen you may well learn something worth learning!

The above article is interesting, but I can't say it even remotely hits the nail on the head regarding the elderly and depression. Scientists and the medical field would have you believe that this is some great mystery to be unraveled. Experience is what is needed and paying attention. This is why the elderly get depressed (for good reason I might add):

Often men who retire will get depressed. They usually look forward to retirement, but unless the retirement is well planned and they either travel a lot or have a beloved hobby such as gardening, Golf, going on fishing trips and hanging out at a special club such as our "Legions" in Canada, then they miss the commrodary of their buddies from the workplace. They may even relocate to warmer climents and have motorhomes in nice private areas or buy another home.

The elderly women miss their children and some children choose to move away and it's difficult for the mother. Some women never had children so can grow old and be very lonely unless society changes their way of looking at the elderly as being useless and we got what we want from you and it's pasture time now.

Once you start collecting your Canadian Pension Benefits and Old Age Security it's like you've had the 666 tattooed on your forehead. Now some stores are realizing just how good some of the elderly are at their jobs. Home Depot (a large hardware store) hires retired people part-time and many men and women are going back to work. In fact, Canada is trying to integrate the retired back into the companies they use to work for because there are a shortage of experienced people to take over their jobs. I think it's a wonderful idea. I have landed a part-time job (at 65) working for a Chiropractor.

Consider this: You retire, you enjoy it for awhile and then you decide that you want to earn a little more money or get back into the workplace part-time because you miss being around co-workers. You start looking for a job and although it's against the law to discriminate against age in Canada it's done and often! Most companies feel they want young people to mold and train for a position in the company and that hopefully that person will be there for many years. With the older people the company doesn't want to invest the money. They forget that the elderly usually look for work in the field they use to work and are quite capable of taking over many jobs, or at least being part of helping in the capacity of the job. So, that's one thing the elderly have to look forward too.

The elderly are over-looked in many areas including their doctors and health care as a whole. The method is "You're getting older with aches and pains so pop this pill and that." Once my doctor (he's older than me) said I didn't look my age (65) but was getting older. I was enraged and said, "So what! It's a blasted number and I have all my faculties and I'll be damned if I'm going out like a smoldering fire. This gal has plenty of fire left in her." I do, and I guard my knowledge and make an effort to remember things (better at it than some of my younger friends) and I've got a great thirst for knowledge and have been told I'm intelligent. I can run circles around many when it comes to jobs, so there is no way I'm going to give up, sit down and die! No doctor, no scientist and no damned article is going to tell me that I've served my purpose, now I'm old, going to get depressed and death is inevitable. To those I say ... "You could die tomorrow yourself, so what has age got to do with it?"

What are the elderly to do, but hang around the house getting worse, going for the odd walk and some may have certain illness'. The doctors load them up on medications (some for the good) but often some to keep them silent and so-called content and life moves on. Not for the elderly! My ideas are if you make the time for most elderly people and listen, learn and make them feel important (sort of the Matriarch of the family) then they will respond better than you could ever imagine (even if ill.) I have an aunt that is 80 years old this year and she's one spry old gal and I visit her at least 3 times a week. I get a kick out of her and since I'm 65 I can relate to her a little. Like me this lady isn't going down in dwindling smoke behind her butt, but flames!

There is no mystery with depression and the elderly and it's absolutely no different that many of the younger people being depressed. In fact, the above article is wrong and more of the younger generation are depressed than the elderly! It can be anything from genetics to trauma, being ill, in great pain and I would say that's a great start to becoming depressed and quite normal. While it's true that Alzheimer's and Dementia are high in the elderly in the U.S. and Canada there are great strides being made towards this. There is now what they call a "Memory Pill" that may soon be on the market, and there is also another medication (not FDA approved for another 2 - 4 years, but humans experiments have been made for a pill that will actually take away the trauma or depression from the person and they feel quite normal and get back to the living.) Our foods are loaded with chemicals and hormones and the environment is getting worse and even the younger people are dying far younger than they should have too, so it's not all about the elderly.

So there again sits the elderly person feeling depressed (the doc saying it's part of the aging process ... crap!) Some meds would help, suggesting volunteering in an area that person enjoys. Talking to family about helping in this area a little more. If this isn't done then the person simply dwindles away because they feel useless and thrown on a garbage heap. The next thing family wants to do when they have ignored all these signs I've mentioned above they are too busy to have dear old mom or dad at home (perhaps there is a reason they can't be left alone) and then it's the nursing home! Call it beautiful, a wonderful place, but the truth of the matter is (I've talked to these people in the nursing home) it boils down to these names: The Bone Yard, The Last Motel, God's Waiting Room. If you treat people from the age of 65 and up like they are delicate they will accept that, but if you make them self sufficient if they hopefully don't have a serious disease and help them be that way they can do some wonderful things. Some of the best artwork and books of work have been done by the elderly. When I go cross-country skiing I've meet people up into their 90s (usually Europeans.) So there blows the theory of old age!

For the young, take the time because on day you're going to be there and that great saying "You shall reap what you sow" is so true!

AnswerIt is recognised that depression is very likely a physical illness of the brain due to a deficiency of some essential chemicals. It also stands to reason that like other ailments this deficiency is caused or aggravated by lifestyle similar to the way an excessive smoker gets lung damage etc.

For this reason depression responds to medication. But getting/staying well should also include a change of lifestyle.