Depression in the Elderly, Research Paper Example

Depression particularly among the elderly is a serious health challenge that affects the productivity and the quality of life for those diagnosed with depression. In most cases, elderly people who predominantly live in assisted and nursing homes often suffer from acute depression, a problem that has over the years been attributed by medical experts to their environment. Some of the common factors that have been cited as causing depression among the elderly include;

1. Declining health and productivity
2. Sudden changes in life
3. Diminished personal resources

A major challenge in addressing the depression challenge among the elderly is the fact that even some of the family members of the affected people also have mild depression, making it even harder for them to care for the elderly patients.

Among, the elderly, there are early signs that a person could be suffering from depression. According to Cole & Dendukuri, medical experts have warned that sometimes it is hard to identify expression among the elderly because elderly people have a certain way of masking real depression (2014). Among the elderly, illnesses such as dementia can prevent early physical symptoms of depression being identified. Depression among the elderly can therefore be identified by looking at other unrelated symptoms that may help identify if a person is suffering from depression. Instead of looking at the usual factors that cause depression, health experts recommend that occurrences such as frequent illnesses may actually be symptoms of depression. The recommendation there is that when such symptoms occur, the patient should be diagnosed for depression particularly among the elderly.

“A general misconception among the people is that depression is part of aging” (Parmelee et al, 2004). This explains why the illness is dismissed as part of the aging process, which further makes a lot of people including the patients not seek medical assistance and treatment. The assumption that depression is part of aging is part of a larger theory that include stigmatization of depression patients. The situation is even worse among the elderly who rely on other people to take care of them as part of the management process of the illness. The misconception is that depressed people can ‘snap out of it’ at any moment. It is this assumption that further aggravates the disorder among the victims since most of those suffering from depression don’t even realize they are depressed.

As stated by Ames, (2001) the first major step of addressing the health problem of depression is by first recognizing the early symptoms on the illness. Once this is done, the next step would be to seek professional medical help from a qualified physician on the appropriate treatment procedures and long-term management of depression. The clinical treatment of depression include antidepressant medications that influence the normal functioning of neurotransmitters. There are also other medications of depression that have been developed over the years. The main problem however is that most of the advanced medications of depression have extreme side effects making them unsuitable for elderly people. It is therefore important for elderly people to stick to treatments that do not in any way alter their normal body functioning.  Among the elderly, rehabilitation and proper care is one of the most effective means of dealing with depression. This is because, elderly people often feel depressed as a result of lacking something that they feel they require, or as a result of an injury or illness. Once such happens, there is need to provide effective care to such patients in order to give them a sense of belonging and care.

References

Ames, D. (2001). Epidemiological studies of depression among the elderly in residential and nursing homes. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 6(6), 347-354.

Cole, M. G., & Dendukuri, N. (2014). Risk factors for depression among elderly community subjects: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry.

Parmelee, P. A., Katz, I. R., & Lawton, M. P. (2004). Anxiety and its association with depression among institutionalized elderly. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 1(1), 46-  58.