Mental Illnesses Among Older Adults

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

“The Canadian Mental Health Association estimates that 1 in 5 Canadians will develop a mental illness at some time in their lives.” Mental illness is defined as a mental pattern that causes an impaired ability to function normally in ordinary life. Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income and are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing. A number of factors can contribute to whether an individual will develop a mental illness, with these factors being present individually or in multiples. A number of factors have been identified that contribute towards initiating mental illness, but no individual factor has been definitively identified as ‘the’ factor that causes a mental illness. Symptoms of mental illness can range from mild to severe and are classified into two main categories as being either organic disorders or functional disorders. Organic disorders cause a decrease in the mental function of the brain due to a medical disease; while functional disorders cause a derangement of the mind. The type and severity of the disorder determines if it will be short-term and treatable or if it will be permanent or degenerative and untreatable. There are a variety of community and medical services available to assist those who are affected by mental illness. These services are available on an in-patient or out-patient basis depending on the level of severity, with the general trend towards

Grohol, J. (2011). Mental Health Needs of Older Americans. Psych Central. Retrieved on September 29, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/05/02/mental-health-needs-of-older-americans/

The final article I analyzed was titled “Aging Parents of Adults with Serious Mental Illness” and was written by Jennifer Van Pelt. This article sought to address the type of support parents caring for special needs adult children require as they age. It discussed how parents are the primary caregivers to children with a severe mental illness, or SMI, throughout the majority of the child’s life. The amount of care provided to adults with SMI by their aging parents is so substantial that if parental caregivers stopped providing care, public programs could never handle it. The author of this article wanted to put more focus on assisting the aging caregiver population, increase their emotional well-being, and lower their stress burden through the use of a social work home-based intervention program. In the pilot study, families received instruction on problem-solving techniques, education about the adult child’s particular mental illness, and sessions that included cognitive therapy, stress management, behavioral management, and future planning. This initial study yielded promising results, including greater life satisfaction and less emotional stress reported by aging parents. The author concludes the article by discussing the importance of planning for the future and how the adult child with SMI will be taken care of after the parents’ deaths.

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

As people get old a few of them will experience changes in cognition with age related capacity rather than intellectual capacity. There are some people who get both disparities of mentally and physically impaired that will led into depression due to aging process of their body. Even though, the forgetfulness is a common among older adults, we as healthcare providers must evaluate altered mental status of the patients. “The evaluation and management of altered mental status are broad and require careful history and physical examination to eliminate life-threatening situations”(Patti & Dulebohn, 2017). Therefore, it is very important to recognize the importance of difference between normal age-related symptoms and developing new health problems that can arise in this specific population. As elders get older their memory lapses it frustrating to them leading them to be more worried about changes in their memory. Nurses have a unique capability to promote a cognitive health and determine the possibilities of potential cases of the impairment in elders. The movie “On Golden Pond” Mr. Norman was a perfect example and showed that his symptoms were interfering with his everyday live when he almost burns down the house with fire, calling Bill by his daughter’s name Chelsea and getting lost in on the lake. Even though, Mr. Norman had heart and dementia problems his wife never discouraged him to do what he liked such as

Statistical data reveal that 25% of adult Americans have a mental illness, and more than half of the U.S. population will develop a mental illness at some point during their lifetime (CDC; APA). "Major Depressive disorder is a leading cause of disability for ages 15-44. Major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American adults, or 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year” while anxiety disorder affects …40 million…adults ages 18 and older…” (NIMH; APA). Comparatively, cardiovascular, diabetes, epilepsy, obesity, cancer, and asthma, and other chronic diseases are surfacing with increased frequency among the mentally ill (CDC; APA). The aforementioned finding elicits question about medical

Mental illness is a disease found worldwide, affecting a big chunk of the population. Some mental illnesses can be small such as ADHD and anxiety disorders whereas others are more severe like Borderline Personality Disorder and Schizophrenia. Treatment and understanding of these conditions used to be very poor, but the 1980’s started to change that. Although much treatment of mentally ill patients has gotten better, there is still room for improvement. With proper medication and therapy, people with mental illnesses can become fully functioning contributors to society. Most Westernized civilizations have a patient disclosure agreement that affects the patient 's ability to fully get better. Mental illnesses do not affect only old people, but they also have a huge impact on younger generations, and it is not as expensive to treat these patients as traditionally thought, especially if they are not let out before they should be. The treatment of mentally ill patients should be altered in a way that leads to patient happiness, while being cost efficient and helping future generations.

Alarming statistics project that by the year 2050, an estimated 115 million people globally will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In 2011, the cost of Alzheimer’s care in the United States exceeded $130 billion (Trivedi, Bijal, 2012). Approximately 90% of older nursing home residents are estimated to have a psychiatric disorder which includes Alzheimer 's disease (Curlik, SM, et al, 1991). In 2003, the report on the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America, recommended that mental health must be addressed with urgency in light of the prevalence of increasing diagnoses of Alzheimer’s and dementia among elderly populations ( “President 's New

The graph below, featured in a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, reveals that although there has been a slight decrease in the proportion of youth with mental illness, youth aged 16-24 still have the highest prevalence of mental disorders of all age groups. Approximately 26% or 671,000 youth experienced a mental illness in 2007 alone. Comparatively, less than 10% of people aged 65+ experienced a mental illness, although the prevalence in this age group has increased since 1997 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2014). Although senior citizens have good mental health in general, due to stigmatism they are less likely than other age groups to seek help, often waiting until they desperately need assistance (Health Direct

Depression is one of the most common mental disorder in the United States. More so, it is well recognized to be one of the most threatening mental health condition among older adults. Consequently, it leads to decline of the overall physical, mental and social state of an elderly person. According to World Health Organization (WHO, 2010), major depression carries the heaviest burden of disability among mental and behavioral disorders. In 2015, an estimated 16.1 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States had at least one major depressive episode in the past year. This number reflects that an estimated one in 15 adults (6.7%) gets affected in any given year and one in six people (16.6%) will experience depression at some time in their

Older adults are the fastest growing segment of the population and it is projected that by 2030 their size will increase by 7% equaling 20% of the total U.S. population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014; Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] & Merck Foundation, 2007). Due to the current and expected shift in the demographics, late-life depression has become a public health concern and has increased the demand for mental health services for older Americans (CDC & National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, 2009). According to the CDC (2015), the prevalence estimates of major depression in older adults varies from 1% to 13.5%. Furthermore, the prevalence of depression drastically increases from 12% to 30% as older adults move from community to institutional settings (Unutzer, Katon, Sullivan, & Miranda, 1999).

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

It has been reported that the number of people with mental disorder is increasing in our communities at an alarming rate. Environmental and social changes are among the most mentioned causes of the accelerating rate of mental illness in society (Häfner, 1985). Despite the prevalence, about one fifth of the adult population will battle with mental illness every year ("Facts and figures about mental illness," 2014) and the acknowledgement of authorities mental illness is still given less attention then is needed to treat the problem successfully. Health bodies need to be putting more resources into this area as