Late Life Depression

Abstract

Depression is a malady which occurs regardless of age, but the elderly, face particularly concerning issues. Referred to at times as depression in later life, geriatric depression is vastly different from depression in younger adults. It is often misconstrued that depression is a part of normal aging and therefore considered a phase of life than a medical disorder. The World Health Organization reports that depression affects 7% of older people worldwide. Depression in seniors is linked to greater vascular, medical and environmental factors, while early onset depression typically involves genetics and adverse developmental and social factors. Research reports indicate that seniors often report more physical (headaches, backaches, fatigue) and cognitive difficulties (forgetfulness, poor reasoning, and slowed thinking) than kinds of sadness or despair younger depressed report. As a result, it is often thought by the elderly and their relatives that failing memories, aches, pains and irritability are due to “old ageâ€, and they struggle hitherto unaware that they are battling a treatable illness. The alarming statistic is that upwards of 90% of seniors doesn’t receive adequate care for depression, with 78% not receiving any kind of treatment at all. The financial cost of misdiagnosis or mismanagement of geriatric depression is enormous with research saying it worsens co-existing physical illnesses, hastens mortality and increases the rates of suicide by seniors. And the suicide risk is often grossly undervalued, research shows that among those who attempt suicide, elders are the most likely to die. In adolescence, the ratio of attempted to completed suicides has been estimated to be 200:1, whereas the estimated risk for the adult population is from 12:1 to 33:1. In contrast, this sharply rises to 4:1 in later life