Late Adulthood and Depression Late adulthood should be a time in a person's life where they feel fulfilled. They can look back on their memories and be happy with the way they have lived their life. Now, too many elderly people are not satisfied and look at this stage as depressing. Most fear death of either a loved one or for themselves. This topic is interesting to me because elderly people should make the best of their last stage of life. This topic discusses about getting older, the life changes that they go through physically, emotionally, and mentally. We should know more about it so that we can help our family and friends get through one of the best, yet toughest part of our mortal life. Depression is defined as "a state of despondency marked by feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness" (Coon, 2001). Some people can mix up depression with just having the blues because of a couple of bad days or even weeks. It is already said that depression affects about one sixth of the population or more (Doris, Ebmeier, Shajahan, 1999). Depression can happen in any age range from birth to death. The cause of depression is still obscure and becoming clear that a number of diverse factors are likely to be implicated, both genetic and environmental. Some causes are leading stressful lives, genetic factors, a previous depressive episode, and the personality trait neuroticism (Doris, et al., 1999). There are many common symptoms in which everybody looks for which is unhappiness and disappointment. Symptoms that are different, pervasive, or interfere with normal function are considered to be pathological. Some symptoms include loss of pleasure in almost all activities, loss of reactivity to usually pleasurable stim... ... middle of paper ... ...ournal of Physical Eduction, Recreation & Dance (JOPERD) "Active Seniors Less Susceptible to Depression" January 2001 Vol 72 i1 p.9 The Lancet "Depressive Illness" by Alan Doris, Klaus Ebmeier, Polash Shajahan October 16, 1999 Vol 354 p 1369 American Family Physician "Does Conjugal Loss Cause Depression in the Elderly?" by Karl E. Miller March 15, 2000 Vol 16 p.1852 The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) "Recognizing and Treating Depression in the Elderly" by M.J. Friedrich Vol 282 No. 13 October 16, 1999 Modern Maturity "Face the Music and Dance" by Mark Matousek Inverview with Psychologist James Hillman Nov/Dec 1999 issue Geriatrics "Late-life depression: treatment strategies for primary care practice" by Robert N. Butler, Gene Cohen, Myrna I. Lewis, Wanda Simmons-Clemmons, and Trey Sunderland April 1997 Vol 52 No 4 pg 51
Depression is considered a mental disorder that can lead an individual to commit suicide, experiment fatal risk that can injure his or her life. Furthermore, an individual feeling depressed lacks motivation to do anything progressive with his or her life. With that said, these individuals sometime gives up interest in activities that were once enjoyable, gets in a phase were he or she loses appetite, begins to overeat, loses concentration on what he or she is trying to complete, and becomes indecisiveness. Moreover, depression is a condition that makes an individual feel miserable, have no motivation to any activity that can influence his or her views, actions, welfare. Furthermore, depressed individuals at times may feel sad, apprehensive, desperate, destitute, useless, awkward, short-tempered, and agitated. In addition, the melancholy of depression is categorized by a greater concentration and length that is attached to severe symptoms. According to Wedding & Corsini (2014) states, “Physical disease, severe and acute stress, and chronic stress area also precipitating factors” (Pp. 240) of an individu...
While the pervasiveness of depression in modern American Culture is apparent, the relationships between the factors that cause it are often debated. Depression, according to David Myers, is the most common disorder that causes patients to seek treatment and 17 percent of adults in the United States face depression at some point during their lifetime (Myers 621, 2013). According to the DSM-IV-Tr, as cited by Myers, a depressive episode occurs when someone shows five characteristics of depression for a period of two or more weeks. Characteristics of depression are a depressed mood for a majority of the day, diminished interest, weight loss or gain, insomnia or oversleeping, persistent lethargy, feeling of worthlessness, inappropriate guilt, difficulty
Depression has become an epidemic in the United States and elsewhere for many years. It was first classified in 1895 by Emil Kraepelin and its been continuing to get worse. To be specific, depression has been known around the world for 122 years but there have always been different forms of depression. When people first heard about depression, they did not know what it was just your emotions running wild or even insanity but truly it is a psychological disease that perhaps you were born with. In this paper I will be talking about the history, facts and knowledge, the treatments and medications, and finally ask the question, "Will depression ever be cured?”
As a product of life history, the ageing of the body during middle adulthood is undeniable. Psychologically, realising one’s own ageing is challenging (Lachman, 2001). Fading youthfulness, decline in physical functioning, changing careers and other dramatic alterations in life often cause anxiety and depression as they are expected to adjust their perception of age. This occurred when they are making a way through the previous occupational lifestyle as it is challenging to adjust their mentality. However, by re-evaluating their life, individuals usually see the chance of personal growth and are able to maturely encountering these challenges (Rayner, 2005).
Late Adulthood and Death Paper Analyzing late adulthood and the death of an individual as a culmination of the life span development process one must understand late adulthood consists of. This paper will give a brief overview of ageism and stereotypes associated with late adulthood. This will explain how health and wellness techniques in the late adulthood stages can mitigate the negative effects of aging. As people age, the social views and experiences change in relationships and interactions with people, as they near the end of life. When closely approaching the end of life, a person has cultural and personal attitudes about death and dignity in late adulthood.
This week’s article, “Planning for "Successful Aging" at Mid-life” by Kathryn Betts Adams Ph.D., M.S.W., discusses a topic that everyone begins to realize is fast-approaching, yet the majority try to put it out of their minds. And they can hardly be blamed for doing so. The idea of aging is one that no one is ready to face considering how short our time on Earth seems to be with each passing day. Most of us would rather worry about it later, preferring to spend the time remaining doing all that we have planned for our lives. Not only do Kathryn Betts Adam combat this by openly discussing the issue we have all been avoiding, but she gives great advice to make this process a bit easier for all of us to deal with.
According to the U.S. census bureau older adults are an important and rapidly growing segment of the United States’ population. There are about 40 million older adults aged 65 and older residing in Unites States and it is projected to be more than double by 2050(Population Reference Bureau, 2015). This projection is due to advancement in health care facilities and better education (Population Reference Bureau, 2015). As people age they face various physical, psychological and social roles changes which affects their quality of life.
Becoming older is a natural progression of life. Late adulthood is the period of life in every individual that follows the period of his or her life after he/she turns 60 years of age. Being active, eating healthy foods and handling stress have been shown to greatly improve the quality of life for senior citizens.
What is depression? According to the American Psychological Association (2014), “Depression is more than just sadness. People with depression may experience a lack of interest and pleasure in daily activities, significant weight loss or gain, insomnia or excessive sleeping, lack of energy, inability to concentrate, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. Depression is the most common menta...
Depression is one of the most widespread mental disorders globally, affecting more that 350 million people of all ages. It is characterized by disturbed sleep, loss of appetite, sadness, poor concentration and feelings of guilt. There are various types of depression which are long lasting, and other types which are constantly reoccurring (World Health Organisation , 2012). Severe symptoms of depression that inhibit the ability to work, sleep and eat is categorised as major depression, this form of depression can occur once in a lifetime, however in some circumstances it may occur more often. Persistent depressive disorder can last up to 2 years; symptoms may resemble major depression along with episodes of less severe symptoms. Psychotic depression is a form of severe depression when a person begins to hallucinate and have delusions. Postpartum depression is experienced by women after birth, physical and hormonal changes can lead to depression. Seasonal affective depression (SAD) usually occurs during winter due to less sunlight. Another major type of depression is bipolar disorder which is categorized as changes in mood, for instance extreme high moods to extreme low moods (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011). The prevalence of depression was analysed in 8449 individuals aged between 15 and 40, results showed that depression was commonly found in white males and females than in black and Mexican male and females (Stephanie et al, 2005).
Mental illnesses are increasing at an alarming rate worldwide and is one of the significant health problems of today’s world.This essay will present the manifestation of ‘depression in an elderly client in a community mental health setting. Depression among the elderly differs from depression in the younger adults which are accompanied by physical symptoms and co-morbidities rather than emotional symptoms. The presentation of these somatic conditions make the diagnosis of depression difficult in older people and therefore requires the identification of differences in symptoms of depression and coexisting somatic conditions. Depression is associated with significant reduction in cognitive abilities of the elderly. Furthermore decreased in physical and social activities are accompanied. To address the multidimensional effects of the depression in older people.
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.
C., Penna, M. P., & Hitchcott, P. K. (2014). Mental health in late adulthood: What can preserve it?. Applied Research In Quality Of Life, doi:10.1007/s11482-014-9323-5
Depression is an illness that impacts the brain. Depression is not just feeling “down.” It is a serious illness caused by changes in brain chemistry. According to research there are other factors that contribute to the onset of depression, including genetics, change in hormone levels, certain medical conditions, stress, grief or any other problem in life. Any of these factors alone or them all together can cause
Late Adulthood comes with a great number of things, which typically simply build on what was discovered in Adulthood. The ideal remaining relevant in society is in the forefront; while traditional work may end volunteerism picks up (Berger, 2014). Those that have the ability to work do so in order to maintain social relationships fighting the isolation, and loneliness that is a major problem. Speaking with my grandmother she talked about barriers she has faced throughout the aging process to include; coping in retirement, loss of friends, and the idea of becoming frail.