Depression in Older Adults

✍ Scribed by Fred Stickle; Jill D. Onedera

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 93 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1524-6817
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2161-0029.2006.tb00012.x

✦ Synopsis

Ageism can influence the diagnosis of depression in older adults because of a tendency of society to dismiss the "old person" as just being "grumpy." However, some older adults do experience depression that needs to be diagnosed and treated . One needs only to review the cases in nursing and convalescent homes, hospitals, and senior citizen centers to recognize that crises arise for older adults as frequently and are experienced as intensely for these individuals as for people at any other age. The nature of the crises of older adults is similar to that of crises of individuals at other ages, but there is a special quality that derives from age itself. Most often this lies in the combined impacts of loneliness from losses of family members and friends, the need to adapt to deteriorating physical capacities, and the lack of treatment and diagnosis of depression in older persons .

Among other factors, the high rate of suicide among older people in the United States urges mental health professionals and families to take depression and related symptoms among older adults seriously . In fact, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; 2003) reported that compared with 13% of the total U.S. population, 18% of individuals 65 years and older commit suicide. Furthermore, White men who are 85 years old or older are among the individuals with the highest suicide rates. Despite these alarming rates, suggested that with proper and more vigilant attention to the signs and symptoms of depression, some of these suicides could be prevented.

Persons who are 65 years and older tend to be vulnerable to chronic or episodic depression . Depression among older adults can be the consequence of many factors including stress and impairment, medical conditions, relational problems, and loss of family and friends . Depression among older persons can also occur in response to chronic