Depression in the Chronically Ill Elderly Patient

Depression is one of the most recurrently investigated psychological disorders within the area of medical R&D (Montorio & Izal, 1996). A number of exhaustive researches have been carried out to study its symptoms and impacts on different patients belonging to different personal and professional attributes and most of these researchers depicted that depression in the elderly people is very frequent and in spite of number of researches in this context, it is often undiagnosed or untreated. To add to this jeopardy, it has also been estimated that only 10% out of the total depressed elderly individuals receive proper diagnosis and treatment (Holroyd et al, 2000). And for that reason, an authentic

People often associate the elderly having depression as a part of ageing, but sadly it’s not. Depression in the elderly stems from multiple different reasons, such as the elderly in assisted living do not get family visits or friends that visit, they don’t get out of their room to move around and social isolation. Many studies have been conducted on cause and effect of depression in the elderly and since then intergenerational programs have been created to get the older generation to interact with the younger and upcoming generations. Having the opportunity for the different generations interact has a positive effect on both sides; the younger generations will have the opportunity to learn new things, create a new appreciations for things and

Darby, S. Marr, J. Crump, A Scurfield, M (1999) Older People, Nursing & Mental Health. Oxford: Buterworth-Heinemann.

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

Depression- Depression is a significant issue for individuals with high care needs, and their carer’s. Research has shown that the depression levels of young individuals residing in aged care is twice of those living at home, or in Youngcare housing. For individuals living at home 56 percent of their carer’s are defined as moderately depressed, and 40 percent are defined as severely or extremely depressed.

Caregivers play a crucial role in the care of dementia patients. Providing care for dementia patients results in stress related health impacts to the caregiver. The caregivers go through a journey with the dementia patient and need a strong support system. The best approach to dementia care is for health care providers to provide information to and monitor the caregiver, in addition to the dementia patient, encourage the caregiver to take care of themselves, to seek support, and to work as a team to provide the best care for the dementia patient.

I worked in a long term care facility for three years before going to an internal medicine office. When starting right away I noticed, with my medication passes, that most of the residents were on some type on medication for depression or a mood disorder. I started to think that it must be a common diagnosis for most of these patients because of being in a nursing facility instead of living at home, in which they had been staying most of their adult lives. I then began to think of some of the residents that where immobile and couldn’t ingest orally anymore and would have to rely on internal feedings to keep them alive. It was hard to image how they must have felt. I could see the emotional impact that it had on them losing their ability to

Admission into a long-term care facility can be a very difficult transition that may trigger or exacerbate depression symptoms in the elderly, resulting in decreased quality of life and increased risk of hospitalization (Miu & Chan, 2010). Hoover et al. (2010) states that up to 54.4% of nursing home residents suffer from depression; however, screening of depression upon admission to long-term care is not currently mandated. The purpose of this change project is to implement policy to make depression screening a part of the admission process of long-term care residents.

Many of the more severe complications of caregiving arise as chronic conditions wear on and progressive conditions reach their advanced stages. Many family members are simply not physically, emotionally, or educationally prepared for they type of care their loved one now needs. They see the need for support and assistance, but they simply don't know where to turn. Others can handle the daily tasks and chores, but the increased medical help that their senior loved one needs can quickly get overwhelming. The downward spiral of stress and anxiety quickly leads to social isolation and depression. One of the reasons this situation is so serious is that depression is linked to cardiac disease, heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, and suicide.

1) Why is depression so common in late life? I base this question on Blazer (2009), who said that depression is common in late life, affecting nearly 5 million of the 31 million Americans aged 65 and older with clinically significant depressive symptoms reaching 13% in older adults aged 80 and older.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “older adults are at an increased risk of depression, because depression is more common in people who have other illnesses, and 80% of older adults have a chronic condition” (CDC, 2017). The CDC also mentions that older adults are often misdiagnosed or undertreated, because the symptoms may be thought to be the cause of something else, or the patient doesn’t understand that treatment would be beneficial and do not seek help.

Mental disorders are becoming more prevalent in today's society as people add stress and pressure to their daily lives. The elderly population is not eliminated as a candidate for a disorder just because they may be retired. In fact, mental disorders affect 1 in 5 elderly people. One would think that with disorders being rather prevalent in this age group that there would be an abundance of treatment programs, but this is not the case. Because the diagnosis of an individual's mental state is subjective in nature, many troubled people go untreated regularly (summer 1998). Depression in the elderly population is a common occurrence, yet the diagnosis and treatment seem to slip

As a result of the above factors, the health and well-being of family caregivers – and the subsequent ability to assist their care recipients – is a public and mental health priority. The decline of family caregiver health is one of the major risk factors for institutionalization of a care recipient feelings come up when you are caring for someone day in and day out. Caregivers are often reluctant to express these negative feelings for fear they will be judged by others or don't want to burden others with their problems. Evidence indicates that cognitive-behavioral interventions to help family caregivers benefit their family members as well as caregivers experience decreases in depression in response to treatment, so do their care recipients (Berry, Elliott, Grant, Edwards & Fine, 2012). In addition, two reports from the Institute of Medicine, The Mental Health and Substance Use Workforce for Older Adults: In Whose Hands (2012) and Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce (2010), encouraged professionals and direct service workers to prepare family caregivers for their role, and to consider family caregivers as members of the health-care

This module opened my eyes to the experiences the families with relative with dementia; one main example is caregiver burden. Caregiver burden refers to both the objective and subjective problems of difficulties faced by the family caregivers in caring for a relative in a day-to-day basis. Depression is one of the most determinants of the caregiver burden as untreated depression for a caregiver results in: decreased quality of life for the person with dementia and the carer; compromised health for the carer; decreased capacity to perform carers; and suicidal tendency for the carer. Additionally, according to Lindauer and Harvath, (2014) witnessing changes and losses in a family member with dementia can lead to ‘pre-death grief’ which is also associated with depression, burden and maladaptive caregiver coping. Moreover, when it is time for the family to place their loved one in institutions such as nursing homes due to the crippling demands of caring as the disease progress, one of the challenges faced by the family is adapting to the role change in the care giving context. By promoting a sense of community and belongingness in a nursing home, person with dementia are empowered as they feel important. Furthermore, this promotes collaboration between staff and family that

Caregivers who were responsible for both children and parents reported that while children are learning and growing and may become self-sufficient in the future, elderly relatives are usually declining in health and becoming more dependent each day (Baron, 2001). Watching the decline of a loved one, usually a parent, adds additional emotional stress to the stress already felt by what may seem to be a never-ending active schedule.