Abstract
For the most part, depression is studied in young adults and teenagers. This is because these are more developmental ages of life where the brain is still growing, so it is more common for people to experience symptoms of depression. While it is necessary to understand depression as it develops, it is equally as important to research how depression affects those who have already matured into late life. There is a difference in how the symptoms may be looked upon and could affect how patients are treated. This study will investigate the presence of depression in senior citizens and how the behaviors are treated accordingly. The prevalence in depression in different backgrounds of people should also be considered and the reasons why. No matter how old, it is important to monitor the elderly for depression in order to manage and prevent the symptoms.
Introduction
As one gets older, one might undergo through a lot of changes especially death of relatives, loved ones, retirement, stressful life events or health complications. It is normal to feel somehow uneasy, sad, stressed when such changes occur in life. The feeling of uneasiness or stress may have time limits and after adjustment, many of the senior citizens come back to their normal life and feel better. Depression is very different from just stress or uneasiness, and is defined as medical condition in the DSM-5 which interferes with someone in his or her daily normal life and body functioning, especially with their emotions and behaviors. Some may see this as an abnormal part of aging and a symbol of weakness or character flaw. In fact, plenty of adults do not believe that there is anything physically wrong with people who experience depressive symptoms. Individuals who suffer from depression experience a continuous and lasting depressed mood, which mainly interferes with ability of felling pleasure, normal functioning of the body and to a point of even losing interest in life (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). People suffering from depressive episode may sometimes feel so fatigued that they somehow do not feel like going to work or rest effectively. At the most severe, some spend the majority of their day in their bed and they are not happy at all. Many people with depression will feel guilty and deeply sad about their behaviors and blame themselves for inactivity. If the problem persists for long, these people may feel there is no need to live and many of them have committed suicide. Therefore, showing that depression has an effect on individual’s mind and personal life. Depression is a very big issue to discuss and many people ask what is depression and the disorder related to depression. When a person is depressed, they have sad feelings but it changes physical health, behavior social activities and ability to make decisions. Depression alone has affects more than fifteen million people in USA especially older people and the last for a very long time if one fails to recognize it. Its effects are hazardous since it mostly affects the brain and health and many people end up committing suicide if counseling is not administered on time. It is therefore fundamental to expound in details about what depression is, its causes, effects and possible mechanisms of eradicating the problem. The study will therefore deal with depression among senior citizens.
History of depression
Depression and its effects can strike anyone in the society, however, older people are the main victims of the mental problems which strikes large percent of them. Several biological, social, and physiological changes may take place in older people, hence exposing the elderly to the risk of getting depression. Many people believe that depression is common part of aging but it is not something that is a destined to happen to everyone. If someone starts to experience depression, even at a later age, proper medication and care can eradicate the problem. In order to understand the occurrence of the disease, it’s important to look at statistics in one of the states in US, specifically Missouri is used in the following research. In 2006 alone, around 6% of people residing in the state were receiving in-patient long term care were suffering from major depression while 19% were experiencing less depression and to make matter worse 40% of them experienced the problem a whole year. In the same state, it terrifying to see that almost 75% of the depressed aged adults do not seek or receive effective treatment and 80% of nursing home victims fail to access appropriate treatment. As a result, suicide among older people is mostly associated with depression and its common and major mental health issue in the state. The seniors commit disproportional suicide number in terms of population and the rate of males who are aged is almost 28.4 per 100, 000 and it may shoot to 38.2 to those who are age between 74-84 and beyond 84yrs is 44.8.
Types and Causes of depression in adults 500
Depression is a very common issue among older people but it should be understood that depression is not process of aging and therefore not everyone who is not has a depression or has experienced depression. In fact, studies prove that most of the older people feel satisfied with their lives despite experiencing physical issues. Nevertheless, a lot of changes happen in life which affects older adults and they are not able to control their uneasiness or stress which gradually develop into depression and they feel very sad and distressed for long time. Unfortunately, depression among aged people may be very difficult to identify due to different symptoms they portray as compared to the young people. for instance, older adults experiencing depression may be sad but sadness is not a main symptom and many of them do not express what they are feeling. They opt to remain silent and when disturbed too much, they start very strange behavior. as a result, doctors may be less likely to identify if their patient is experiencing depression or not.
Sometimes, they may experience tiredness and have difficulty with sleeping and very irritated by minor issues. Moreover, confusion is a common problem in them and if the depression last for long, they may develop other complications such as Alzheimer disease and other brain problems. Before proceeding to the causes of the depression among senior citizens, it is essential to understand common types of depression. They are several types of depression disorder and they include:
Major depression is one of most common mental problem in the USA. In some people, major depression leads to severe impairments, which interfere with one capability of carrying out life activities effectively. According to national survey on drugs use and health, the data presented below was called in 2015 extending to 2016 and it concerns major depressive episode. According to the national survey, major depressive episode is based commonly on diagnostic and statistical manual of the mental disorder.
The episode involvers a period of two weeks or longer where either depressed mood or interest loss and at least some other signs which mainly reflect a change in functioning and they may include an issue with eating, sleeping or loss of concentration.
Major depressive episode with impairment among the adults. It is estimated that 10.3 million adults in the United States experienced major depressive episode with critical impairment in 2016 and hence repressing 4.3 % of the total number of adults (Dey, 2017).Major depression mainly involves severe symptoms, which interfere with major activities that takes place daily especially eating and sleeping. This episode can take place once in a lifetime but it may take place frequently.
Persistent depressive disorder
this form of disorder involves a depressed mood which can last for long period; at least two years and a victim diagnosed with this type of depression disorder maybe still have major depression but the symptoms should last for that period for it to be considered persistent depression disorder. There are also other forms of disorder which include postpartum depression, psychotic depression and seasonal affective depression. These are all causes of the environment or event in which a person experiences.
Causes of depression among elderly
Clinical depression among older people is very common disorder. In fact about six million people who are age between sixty-five years and above are affected by the disorder. It is crucial to note that depression among the old people is commonly confused with multiple illnesses that happen to them. In elderly people, depression mostly happen with medical illness and disorder may last for long. it is mostly associated with increased cardiac diseases risks and increased risk of death during illness and the disorder reduces the ability of the individual to undergo rehabilitation. Heart attack risk of death has also been one of the causes of depression among the elderly people in the society. Moreover, there also other causes that can be linked to depression which include:
Brain chemistry- individuals with the disorder may have different brain chemistry than those without illness.
Personal history- older people may also at a greater risk of experiencing depression if at one time it happened in their life when they were young although it is not always the case.
Genes- researchers have also done intensive research, indeed depression may have a family history, and it is likely to occur to people whom their relatives had the same issue compared to those that have illness earlier in life.
Vascular depression- among the older adults who experience it for the first time, depression may be related to significant changes, which happens in the brain during aging. Vascular depression deals with blood flow aged people may experience restricted blood flow, which hinders effective flow of blood in the body. The vascular depression may be affected by common diseases such as stroke and heart problems.
Symptoms of depression
Depression among the older adults is somehow quite different with young people, although there are common symptoms of depression among all ages of people. It can take some time to identify if the person is suffering from depression, but through cognitive therapy and consistent communication with the patient, physicians are able to identify the disorder through many ways. There are common and numerous symptoms linked with depression disorder although some vary depending on a person. It is so unfortunate that older people fail to identify they are suffering from depression despite presence of symptoms. There are some reasons why depression among the aged is overlooked; these include believing that depression is part of life and one can be isolated which worsen the situation. Moreover, failure to recognize that physical complaints are signs of the disorder. Most people will correlate fatigue and increased sleep with aging, but these symptoms could be due to a person experiencing depression. In addition to this, a large number of the elderly do not share how they are feeling with family or doctors so that they can be properly assisted. Nevertheless, common signs and symptoms include the following for those with more than a two-week period. for effective recognition of depression among the elderly, it is essential to check the period which they feel sad and have the feeling of despair. An important symptom to look for is loss of interest, or anhedonia, which is a common symptom especially when it comes to basic requirements such as eating and sleeping. More importantly, if the elderly feel hopelessness and they may talk about death or suicide. Moreover, some of them are very slow in both movement and speech. Memory is also affected by depression and many of them take time before remembering something. It is easy to pass of these symptoms as a result of aging, yet that is not always the care. The right reaction to such symptoms is essential to helping those living with elderly. Taking the right action will save the victims from severe suffering if medication or therapy is administered at the right time.
Treatment of depression
Treatment of depression among the elderly needs a lot professional and people who aids the old people should identify effective way to approach the problem since it involves a lot of process and some may work while others may be ineffective. To begin with, depressed people should seek medication from the doctor who recommends the best approach to the problem. Moreover, depression is mental problem, which make one to think a lot, and therefore to avoid such occurrence it’s important to associate with other people and share your feelings. Isolation should be avoided completely. Moreover, it’s important for the victims to have enough sleep and take enough food. Depression is mainly caused by changes, which mostly affect the victim in a negative way. Those looking at the victims should ensure that the victim has no reason for overthinking too much and since health complications are common cause of depression among the old people, it is vital to ensure that they are not suffering from any disease. Additionally, exercise is a powerful form of depression treatment and therefore the old people should be trained on how to take some physical exercises such as walking and lift up light objects at home.
Conclusion
While it is easy to look at someone who is at a later stage in life and assume they are simply relaxing all day and content with a very sedentary life, it is possible that the individual is suffering from depression; the symptoms might not clearly stand out as irregular in an elderly person as they would in a young adult. People may disregard behaviors from depression as behaviors of old age and leave the one suffering to keep living with unpleasant symptoms.
Depression is common problem among the older people and their family members, and the entire society should always be alert and observe aged people in order to take the right action whenever the complications occur. It is important to reach out to the lonely elderly to reduce their feelings of hopelessness and help them realize that their behaviors and emotions are not untreatable.