Depression in Older People

762 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on depression in the elderly

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. Lily Smith is a 75 years old women living with her husband in her house. She was presented with eight weeks of worsening low mood, fleeting suicidal thoughts, somatic complaints such as tiredness, throat and chest tightness, diarrhea, decreased concentration and anxiety regarding physical health. The client also stated having fragmented sleep and poor appetite. Mrs Lily appeared anxious and teary and sat close to her husband holding his hand. Mrs Lily was cooperative to establish a rapport and was constantly seeking reassurance. Mrs Lily expressed feeling of hopelessness and stated that she does not see herself getting better. Further Mrs Lily stated ‘nothing seems to be working for me.’ Mrs Lily expressed fleeting thoughts of ending her life by taking all her medications but nil intention to do so. Mrs Lily has a very supportive husband who she had married for the last ... ... middle of paper ... ...and therefore management of the coexisting conditions would decrease the burden on the client. Monitoring thyroid function and assessment of throat pain is done as part of the nursing care. Medication management and non-pharmacological interventions were implemented to manage the condition of the client. The current medication must be reviewed by the doctor as polypharmacy increases the risk of depression and drug interactions and increases the risk of noncompliant with the medications. The first step in providing nursing care to this client involves a risk assessment and monitoring. This will help in risk reduction of succeed or harm from self-neglet. Providing medication and psychotherapy is another aspect of nursing care provided to the client. Education to the patient and her husband about depression and it’s treatment will help to alleviate depressive symptoms.

Show More
Related

  • Nursing Case Study: Polypharmacy

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mrs. A is a 71-year-old widow with CCF and osteoarthritis who has recently been exhibiting quite unusual behavior. Her daughter is concerned about her mother 's ability to remain independent and wishes to pursue nursing home admission arrangements. She fears the development of a dementing illness. Over the last two to three months Mrs. A has become confused, easily fatigued and very irritable. She has developed disturbing obsessive/compulsive behavior constantly complaining that her lace curtains were dirty and required frequent washing. Detailed questioning revealed that she thought they were yellow-green and possibly moldy. Her prescribed medications are:

    Read More

  • Forgiveness In The Secret Life Of Bees

    1757 Words  | 4 Pages

    Over the course of several months, August guides, teaches, and helps Lily to accept and forgive herself. August once knew Deborah, and she knows that Lily is her daughter, but she does not confront Lily about the issue. Instead, she waits until Lily puts the puzzle pieces together and discovers for herself the relationship between her mother and August. August knows she is not ready to learn the truth about her mother when she and Lily first meet, so she waits for Lily to come to her. When Lily finally realizes the truth, she comes to August and they have a long discussion about Deborah. During this discussion, Lily learns the truth about her mother; that her mother only married T. Ray because she was pregnant with Lily, then after several years she had enough of living and dealing with T. Ray, so she left. Lily is disgusted by the fact that her mother would've done something like this, she did not want to let go of the romantic image of her mother she had painted in her mind (“‘The Secret Life of Bees’ Themes and Symbols of The Secret Life of Bees). Lily struggles to stomach the fact the her mother truly did leave her and she spends some time feeling hurt and angry, but one day, August shows her a picture of Lily and her mother. As Lily looks at the picture she is comforted and thinks, “May must’ve made it to heaven and explained to my mother about the sign I wanted. The one that would let me know I was loved” (Kidd 276). Seeing

    Read More

  • Elderly Depression Case Study

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    After a long day at work, I collect my thoughts and review the previous events of the day. An event that clearly stands out in my mind is a conversation I had with an elderly resident at my work. Over the past two years, I have worked at a retirement home called Grand Wood Park as a dietary aide, where it is my job to serve the residents their meals. When I was at work, one of the residents mentioned something to me I had never considered prior to our conversation. She said she feels as though no one cares about her anymore. Her family members do not come and visit her, they have ageist ideas, misconceptions, and often undermine her mental capabilities. I tried my best to reassure her, but I knew this was not enough since my reassurance would

    Read More

  • Depressive and Anxiety Disorders in the Elderly Population

    2067 Words  | 5 Pages

    Acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the ailments encountered by the aging population is critical for properly providing the care that they require. Physical ailments, often easier to diagnose and treat are perceived to be the most prevalent hardships for aged people. However, studies show that a significant number of seniors are subject to mental illnesses. Thus, emphasizing the need for the important of mental health within the aging population. Though all mental illnesses have an unfavorable impact on the quality of one’s life, depressive and anxiety disorders tend to the most devastating for an elderly person.

    Read More

  • Th Truth behind Aging

    1735 Words  | 4 Pages

    Of the estimated 35 million people in the U.S. that are over the age of 65, 6.5 million are in need of some sort of mental health services. (Comer, 2004) However, less than 20% receive treatment (Benek-Higgins, 2008). According to the American Psychiatric Association, there may be instances where a person may not report a depressed mood or sadness, since many including those in the elderly population, may deny such feelings (APA, 1994).Anxieties, irritability, not able t...

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Nursing Home Residents

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over the years, the amount of research has increased especially for individuals in nursing home dealing with depression. Current research has demonstrated that the prevalence of depression in nursing homes has been consistently high (Llewellyn-Jones & Snowdon, 2007, p. 629). However, current research has been done in order to determine the perception of the nursing home resident on depression. Even though healthcare workers fail to recognize depression in nursing home residents, nursing home residents with depression should seek treatment such as cognitive-behavioral-therapy for the sake that nursing home residents with depression who do not seek treatment will have an effect on their

    Read More

  • Women and Depression

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    Depression is well known for its mental or emotional symptoms. Symptoms for depression include: persistently sad or unhappy mood, loss of interest or pleasure in previously enjoyable activities, difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions, anxiety, feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness, and thoughts of death or dying. “People who have endured a major depressive episode describe the experience as a descent into t...

    Read More

  • What Is Hildegard Peplau's Theory Of Interpersonal Relationship

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    Countless theories have been developed by health care professionals that have created the framework for clinical nursing practice today. Health problems, such as depression, may be treated successfully by health care professionals using the nursing process and reputable nursing theories. The most common psychiatric health condition among the elderly is depression. Sadly, depression leads to high incidences of death in the elderly population, as individuals greater than 85 years old have the highest suicide rate (Touhy & Jett, 2012).

    Read More

  • Mental Health Of The Elderly Essay

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    The elderly represents a large amount of the population in our society and continues to grow each day. As the population grows, it is important to meet the demands and resolve the challenges that we encounter in regards to the overall quality of health and well-being of the elderly. Mental health of the elderly is a major issue but majority of the time goes unnoticed and untreated by caregivers and loved ones. About 20 percent of adults 55 and older are suffering from some type of mental health disorder, and one in three elderly adults do not receive any type of treatment (The State of Mental Health, 2008). Those suffering from mental illness are hesitant to seek out help or any type of treatment because of the stigma, services and cost for care that then comes with mental health disorders. Mental health issues that affect elderly include dementia, delirium, and psychosis. Some of the most common conditions include anxiety, mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder and cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease. Mental health is essential to the

    Read More

  • Depression In Isolated Older Adult: Article Analysis

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    Depression is very common throughout the older adult population due to social isolation and other factors; such as change in living conditions e.g. economic (job loss and limited income), family history, personality (low self-esteem, self-critical and naturally depressive outlook), serious medical illness and substance use (Gouda & Okamoto, 2012). Depression can be treated with therapy and medications but depression is more complex than a simple chemical imbalance. As stated in the on-foot survey, 19.7% of Wulguru is aged 60 and over and between 10 to 15 percent of community-dwelling older adults experience depression and its higher in residential care homes at 35 percent (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). Depression is a health problem for older adults in Wulguru as social isolation is a major challenge for them due to limited community activities such as community gardens, reading/knitting groups, easily accessed physical activity areas e.g. tennis courts, bowls area,

    Read More

  • Mental Health

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... improve knowledge about healthy life. Usually depression patient got hopelessness, negative self – image and loss of motivation feeling while family members need know how to improve elder’s emotion through communicate. Elder immigrants need know how to joint communication with physical activity and learn self-help strategies, For example, Morgan and jorm point out patient’s self-help strategies, write something about they did well, engage in an activity that gives a feeling of achievement, do some exercise or physical activity and communicate with positive people frequently.

    Read More

  • Depression In The Elderly Population

    255 Words  | 1 Pages

    Thank you for responding to my inquiry, it helps to improve my awareness regarding the barriers of global mental health in your community is due to inadequate knowledge primarily in the elderly population. Most of my patients admitted to our facility ( skilled nursing facility) have a diagnosis of depression. According to Park, Lee, B. Kim, K. Kim, Chae & Cho (2015), the high occurrence of depression is in the elderly population who lives in their home or apartment. Diagnosing or providing mental intervention in the elderly population is usually delayed due to inability to fully understand the typically detailed feature, as well as the mixture of the standard course of depression (Park et al. (2015).

    Read More

  • The Value of Academic and Applied Psychology in Facing the Challenges of of Life in the Twenty-First Century

    1370 Words  | 3 Pages

    Health psychologists have provided ample interventions that would help healthy older people remain productive and live independently as well as ensuring that the elderly receives the care and support need for them to continue living in their communities for as long as possible. This has been done by addressing the mental health needs and by providing the support for the growing population of older adults ().

    Read More

  • Elderly Intervention

    235 Words  | 1 Pages

    The skilled nursing facility provided psychosocial counseling as well as social services to John. Also, the Certified Nurse Assistants assigned to him were aware of his emotional state. Thus, interventions were implemented. Just like John, there are numerous available resources that an elderly population can utilize to live a quality life. However, the actual challenge lies in the acknowledgment of the presence of problems and identification of such needs, both on the part of the patient and the caregiver. For instance, depression is underdiagnosed because the symptoms are overlooked and undertreated since they exhibited simultaneously with other issues confronting the older adults (World Health Organization, 2017). Moreover, elderly tends

    Read More

  • Depression In Older Adults Essay

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both younger adults and older adults are susceptible to mental health issues such as depression. Depression is a mood disorder that is characterized with changes in feelings and thoughts such as sadness and worthless. There are several risk factors that can contribute to depression including stressful events such as death of a friend or partner and chronic illness (WWK p.256). Although the prevalence of depression is lower in older adults, many older adults report symptoms of depression that are different than younger adult symptoms. For example, young adults may feel guilty and have suicidal thoughts while older adults may experience physical symptoms such as pain (WWK p.255). Differences in symptoms of depression in both groups and

    Read More

More about Depression in Older People

Open Document