Depression in the Elderly People

The American Accreditation HealthCare Commission defines depression as: “a medical illness characterized by persistent sadness, discouragement, and loss of self-worth.

These feelings are accompanied by reduced energy and concentration, sleep problems (insomnia), decreased appetite and weight loss”. According to the Commission, patients who are in their later years and depressed have more pronounced distress over their ailments and body pains. Meanwhile, Martin G. Cole, M. D.

, F. R. C. P. (C. ), and Nandini Dendukuri, Ph.

D. did a thorough review and analysis of various articles on depression in the elderly dating 1966 to 2001 entitled Risk Factors for Depression Among Elderly Community Subjects: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Significantly, the results showed that the factors that cause depression among the aged are as follows: “disability, new medical illness, poor health status, prior depression, poor self-perceived health, and bereavement. ” .

Aside from this, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation also cited specific illnesses that increase risk of having depression, namely: “stroke, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, cancer, and dementia”.Depression in the Elderly versus the Youth Depression is considered a mental sickness that may affect an individual at any point in his or her life. However, depression has been prevalent and common among the elderly for a special number of reasons, distinct from younger age groups. The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, in an article entitled Depression in the Elderly, mentions how depression in the elderly differs from depression from people of the younger generations:• Depression in older people “coexists” with sicknesses that are also common to the elderly.

 Older people are more prone to illnesses and this usually causes their depression and vice versa;• Depression in elderly adults is also caused by “loss of key social support system”. Social support usually comes from friends, husband/wife and siblings. As they age, some of these people may have died or moved to other places, thus losing or having limited social support.• Depression among elderly people “tend to last longer” than among the younger groups. Those patients who suffer from an illness and are depressed are said to be more likely to die from that said illness. Moreover, depression “also doubles their risk of developing cardiac disease, reduces their ability to rehabilitate, and increases their risk of death from illness”.

Additionally, various studies say that there is an existing challenge in properly diagnosing if an elderly patient does suffer from depression. According to Wasylenki in his article entitled Depression in the Elderly: “diagnostic difficulties lie in distinguishing depression from organic brain syndromes, from so-called masked depressions and from normal grief reactions”.This suggests that experts find it hard to discern true depression from “masked depressions” since former’s symptoms are similar to common reactions of sadness or grief that are usual among ailing old individuals. Moreover, according to an article entitled Depression in the Elderly by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, the United States has about six million elderly citizens who are affected by depression. And that among these who are aged 65 years and above, only a small portion (10%) actually gets proper diagnosis and treatment. There are cases of untreated depression because of the difficulty in diagnosing the illness.

However depression is treatable. The Cleveland Clinic Foundation cited means to treat depression among the elderly adults. There are “antidepressant medicines” which are given to old patients usually in lower dosage than younger people. This is so because the elderly are more sensitive to drugs. In addition, as they suffer from illnesses and are taking other prescribed medicines, giving of antidepressants should be monitored carefully.

Aside from medicines, psychotherapy is also effective especially to those patients who refuse to take antidepressants or are under treatment that may react adversely to their existing medication.Significantly a study conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California showed that patients who received IMPACT treatment or (Improving Mood Promoting Access to Collaborative Care Treatment) improved significantly compared to those who received standard treatment. IMPACT is a combination of psychotherapy and use of antidepressant drugs. Conclusion Wasylenki, in his article entitled Depression in the Elderly, said that since depression is hard to correctly diagnose and are as a result left untreated, suicide among elderly patients who are indeed suffering from depression is prevalent.

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation claims: “Elderly white men are at greatest risk, with suicide rates in people ages 80 to 84 being more than twice that of the general population [and that] the National Institute of Mental Health considers depression in people age 65 and older to be a major public health problem. ” Also, Wasylenki said that the medicines that help the depressed elderly should be cautiously prescribed in terms of doses, as well as its possible side effects to the patients.In addition to this, there should be particular emphasis on helping the patients psychologically by “focusing on reducing feelings of helplessness and failing self-esteem. ” In general, the situation of diagnosing depression in the elderly plus the difficulty of administering treatment because of the seniors’ delicate medical conditions is a challenge to the medical community. As a result, various studies are continually conducted and new approaches created, such as the IMPACT, to address the lack of treatment among depressed elderly people.