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Depression in the elderly responds to treatment
Nevada Daily Mail
The bad news is that one in five people over the age of 65 suffer from clinical depression in America. The good news, it is very treatable, Faith Trussell, who is a registered nurse and the director of Senior Life Solutions in Cedar County, told the Nevada Rotary Club at its March 12 meeting.
With the aging of the Baby Boomers, the number of people 65 years or older now is larger than the number of people under 16. In Vernon County, 16.4 percent of the population is older than 65, in Cedar County, 22.4 percent is older than 65 and in St. Clair County 23 percent are older than 65, Trussell said.
Some of the causes of depression in this group are age related, such as the loss of friends, relatives, even pets, and the loss of identity and purpose that sometimes comes with retirement, she said.
Trussell said that the loss of the ability to drive due to health or deteriorating hearing or sight, difficulty in getting around, chronic health problems, and loneliness can all impact mental health.
Diagnosing depression in seniors can be a challenge, since depression can mimic the symptoms of illnesses usually considered as age related like dementia.
"It can be reversed when the depression is cured," she said.
Trussell said it can also appear as sleep disturbances, either too much or too little sleep; loss of energy or pleasure; and cognitive problems like confusion or loss or memory.
Undiagnosed depression can even lead to death.
She said that 20 percent of people who commit suicide saw a doctor the day they died. Forty percent within the week they died and 70 percent within the last year.
However, if the depression is diagnosed and treated the prognosis is good, she said.
Eighty percent of those diagnosed with depression can be effectively treated with medications and psychotherapy.
"There is hope for depression in the elderly," she said.