Cognitive Deficits and Ageing
Are you isolating yourself from others because you never know how you will feel from moment to moment? A depressive disorder is an illness that involves the whole person; mind, body, spirit and emotions. Late-life depression can have different causes, symptoms and treatment needs than that observed in younger persons. It is less likely to be grounded in family history, and more frequently associated with the medical and psychosocial problems of ageing or with cognitive deficit.
Depression is very characteristic of the fabric of today’s society in which families disperse and are leaving the elderly isolated, especially those who survive the death of their partners.
Depression in bipolar disorder is a mood disorder characterized by mood swings from mania (exaggerated feeling of well-being, energy, and confidence in which a person can lose touch with reality) to depression. Most GPs are not trained in the intricacies of elderly depression, and the customary few minutes spent face-to-face by doctor and patient will tend to confirm each in their preconceived attitudes and provoke disagreement.
Clinic’s request for a patient with suspected dementia is usually made because of behavioral symptoms related to delirium. This patient can often have a non diagnosed dementing disorder. Many times elderly patients don’t have appropriate psychiatric observation, because relatives focus on physical symptoms and their pharmaceutical handling.
Depression is a mental health disorder that can cause significant physical and emotional symptoms when left untreated. There are multiple cause of depression but research indicates depression can be caused by biological factors. Adaptation to the difficulties of old age is gradual. Those in the 75 age group may have better perceptions of their own health than those in the 55-64 age group” as a result of ‘positive ageing’. Such an explanation could raise important new issues for the professional approach to prevention and treatment of depression at different stages.
Care homes in Avon explained in a report that there is yet little evidence to suggest that elderly depression is interactive with hypertension, whereas its interaction with chronic pain/arthritis is well recognised. Individual co-morbidities interact with depression in different ways, and the number of comorbid conditions tends to increase with advancing age.
