Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression in the Elderly Essay

According to the American Psychological Association, one in four adults ages 65 and older experiences a mental health problem such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia or dementia. This is quite alarming because it is known that people with mental illness already receive poor care. Poor care combined with living in a society where aging is shamed causes a major concern.Negative stereotypes and attitudes are directed toward the elderly. For

Many people, younger and older, suffer from different types of mental health disorders. Depression is one of the most common disorders that go untreated and mimics signs of dementia. Some doctors use tests such as the Patient Health Questionnaire, and for older people they use the Geriatric Depression scale assessment tool. Both tests are a great way to determine depression and are very useful in the medical field.

small idea that they days are final. In addition, an elderly adult may have stressors with everyday living by themselves, there are elderly adult that tend to want to live by themselves and live daily life as an adult but there can be many issues of physical attributes that are not as fluent when they were a bit younger. Another stressor within elderly adulthood, is going through many health examinations and excessive mediational intake that can be overwhelming for an elderly adult who is exhausted for the obligations. In the journal article Aging and depression: Vulnerability and stress across adulthood author Michele Karel expresses that age differences shows a significant measurement of depression across adulthood, which raises questions

The overall theme of the articles researched were all based on elderly depression and the effects elderly depression can have on their quality of life. During the course of the research, similarities were very evident amongst the different articles. Some of the similarities were: depression is often miss or misdiagnosed in the elderly population, group psychotherapy, assessments, and medication treatment. There are many articles available on elderly depression, but you must know exactly what to look for as there are many topics the information falls under. Elderly depression research ranges from normal part of aging, to death, to living situations and on and on. However, even with the current research available, there will still a gap in literature until effective ways to diagnosis the elderly with depression are found. There are still too many elderly people being misdiagnosed, not diagnosed at all etc. The biggest reason that the literature gap will remain is because there is still too much stigma

The Depression Inventory for the Elderly is a behavior inventory designed to self-assess depressive symptoms for elderly individuals aged 65 and older. The DIE, which consists of 90 items relating to depressive symptoms, provides the evaluator with a total score and five Primary Dimension scores. There seems to be an acceptable test-retest reliability correlation and internal consistency reliability is between .71 and .89, which is also in the acceptable range. After three research studies the DIE has been proven to successfully distinguish the difference between individuals without depression from depressed individuals. Therefore, this inventory seems valid. The normative sample included retired middle class men and women between 65 and 91.

What do we still need to know about your vulnerable population and what programs address their needs? What programs and policies are needed?

According to Ruppel, Jenkins, Griffin, & Kizer (2010) people’s judgements about the elderly are tainted because people tend to believe that they are not depressed but rather that they are just old. Depression is also under diagnosed in the elderly due to conjunction of other serious illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Research has shown that when the elderly are properly treated with depression the success rates is as equal as to the younger population. Ruppel, Jenkins, Griffin, & Kizer hypothesis that the severity of the depressive symptoms would be recognized regardless of age, but rather the acknowledgement of those symptoms,

There Are A Few Reasons Why The People Who Are Elderly And Cross The Age Of 60 Turn Out To Be A Patient Of Major Depression:

Isolation, illness, loss of a loved one, finances, and retirement could cause an older adult to experience depression. Anxiety is another disorder that affects millions of American each year. Older adults could experience anxiety from daily tasks or retirement. The assessments of depression and anxiety could help with early detection of the disorder, which in return would help with assisting the individual with the appropriate resources. To accurately assess this population, a practitioner will need to adapt skills that will be utilized in conducting an assessment. A good oral and written communication skill is important to have to be able to conduct the assessment accurately. Be patient with this population and knowledgeable about the assessment tools being used. Because the older adult population is very diverse, a practitioner must be culturally sensitive. Having a solid knowledge base of the diversity of this population and understanding that there is diversity within a culture. To accurately intervene with this population, a practitioner must have the passion to work with older

Once retired, many individuals feel as if they have lost their purpose in life and/or lost their identity. Encourage your friend or loved one to volunteer.

Geriatric psychiatrists and researchers selected 100 questions related to diagnosing depression in elderly American individuals in order to address somatic and cognitive issues, and issues identifiable with Erickson’s Integrity versus Despair stage of development such as motivation, mood, past and future orientation (Yesavage, 1983). A nominal variable was used for the study because a yes/no format was chosen for administration of

Older people have raised their families, dealt with stressors their whole lives and most of them suffer from anxiety or depression without every receiving psychological treatment.

Currently, social work practice with depressed older adults encompasses a variety of treatment modalities, some originating as far back as fifty years ago or more. It is imperative that social workers have the knowledge that allows them to distinguish those interventions that are not efficacious in treating depression in later life from those that are. At the same time, social workers must use their clinical skills to determine the degree of modification an intervention may need to be applicable to the cultural, racially, and ethnically diverse older adult population. In the same vein, they also need to develop evidence-based practices specifically for the older adult populations with consideration to age-associated changes in physiology, cognition, and social functioning that have the potential to threaten the effectiveness of a variety of interventions” (Dums et al.,

Psychological and social risk factors such as stressful life events, loss and grief, change in social status, bereavement over a partner and decreased participation in physical or enjoyable activities increase vulnerability to depression (Best Practice Advocacy Centre, 2011). Having said that, certain individuals are more likely than others to be engaged in negative self-talk when faced with stressful events due to existing vulnerabilities such as genetic or cognitive style (Fiske et al, 2009). Figure 1 illustrates how accumulation of risk factors exacerbate and intensify depression (Fiske et al, 2009). For example, ageism which perpetuate negative stereotypes about aging may cause older adults, particularly those with a neurotic thinking

Did you know that nearly 20% of people age 55 years or older experience some type of mental health concern? (Centers for Disease and Prevention & National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, 2008) Mental illnesses are very common among older adults and many times will go undiagnosed or will be misdiagnosed. This can happen because the signs of mental illnesses can be easily mistaken for the normal process of aging. Throughout this paper I will focus on the three most common types of mental illnesses among older adults, the facts of mental illnesses, how to recognize the symptoms, and properly treat/care for and older adult with a mental illness.