Geriatric Depression Research Paper

Literature Review 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

Depression in the Elderly Depression later in life frequently coexists with other medical illnesses and disabilities. In addition, advancing age is often accompanied by loss of key social support systems due to the death of a spouse or siblings, retirement, and/or relocation of residence. Because of their change in circumstances and the fact that they're expected to slow down, doctors and family may miss the diagnosis of depression in elderly people, delaying effective treatment. As a result, many seniors find themselves having to cope with symptoms that could otherwise be easily treated.

Depression Inventory for the Elderly (DIE) 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

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

Problems Older Adults Face Older adults are at a stage in life where they have to come to terms with their “inevitable decline” (Gladding, pg. 301). Older adults may suffer from “loneliness, fear and loss” (Gladding, pg. 302). They have been facing “chronic health problems that require increased attention” (Gladding, pg. 302). Many older people have difficulty transitioning to a “retirement lifestyle and long for their professional roles” (302). Many elderly also experience “limited socialization and interpersonal activities” (Gladding, pg. 303). Depression “affects 121 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of disability” (Pépin, Guérette, Lefebvre & Jacques, pg. 117).

Retirement is a vital experience in the life of an individual. Some older individuals enjoy leisure time after retirement. Working in stressful environments for decades can cause them to become tired and yearn to enjoy the rest of their lives with family and friends. However, retirement, death of a

After the loss of a loved one, people experience a period of grief that usually includes unpleasant thoughts, emotional distress, and withdrawal from normal daily activities. These unstable emotions can be a sign of depression. Depression can be treated by medication, support, therapy and leisure activities.

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.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression in the Elderly 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

the last few month with shopping and cleaning. Mr Young scored 12/30 within the mini mental state examination (MMSE) and 6/15 within the Geriatric Depression Score. The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) is a tool, generally used to test for memory or other abilities and it is only

I am glad that depression later in life is no longer seen as a normal part of aging. It is not normal aging, and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Many people feel ashamed or embarrassed that they are struggling with depression. As a result, they do not talk about it. Starting the conversation with older adults about depression seems like the largest hurdle at the moment. I am also glad to see that the new version of DSM talks about the difference between grief and depression (Schwartz, 2013).

Delirium, Depression, and Dementia are some of the most common psychological diagnoses in the elderly today. The three D’s are difficult to differentiate between in older adults because they overlap with each other and can all exist in the same patient at once. Delirium, Dementia, and Depression all affect the

Temporary sadness, grief, or blue moods is considered as normal. However, when these blue moods exist persistently for two or more weeks, it is classified as the depression. Therefore, assessing an older adult’s depression is a way to know their functional status. Geriatric Depression Scales originally had 30 questions and was a self-report assessment tool. It was then reduced to 15 questions due to the validity of these 15 questions. (Mitchell, Bird, Rizzo, & Meader, 2010). As aforementioned, the questions in the GDS were designed based on the signs and symptoms of depression. Iliades (2011) stated that depressed patients would have problems with motivation, fatigue, sleep patterns, suicidality or hopelessness. In GDS, the questions such as “do you feel full of energy” and “do you prefer to stay at home, rather than going out and doing new things?” are to assess the older adults motivation or fatigue. Moreover, the questions such as “do you feel pretty worthless the way you are now?”, “do you feel that your situation is hopeless?” or “Are you hopeful about the future?” are to assess the older adults’

Introduction Geriatric depression is the most common serious disease in elderly people, especially with older hospital patients, yet is often difficult to diagnose and many primary care clinicians fail to recognize depression cases. This research examines the causes, symptoms, and treatments of depression in the elderly. The causes of depression in the elderly are varies depending on their medication, their mental state, and other factors such as physiological and biochemical change. According to Solnek and Seiter (2002), drug reactions cause depression in the elderly. When the elderly often take multiple medications simultaneously, they are vulnerable to suffer depressive symptoms. In addition, “the role of loss in late life is frequently

I am studying depression and aging because I want to understand and work toward prevention of depression in elderly people who participate in senior centers. I think it is important to develop a better understanding of how early recognition, diagnosis and treatment can counteract and even prevent emotional and physical consequences of depression. These consequences can complicate existing health problems in the elderly and trigger new concerns in their care.