Treatments And Clinical Depression For The Elderly

Aging can bring with it all manner of issues including physical and mental health issues.
Depression among the elderly typically coexists with another illness, disability or life changes. These life changes could be the death of someone close to them, retirement, and/or moving. Family and physicians could miss the signs of depression in the elderly simply because they are expected to become feebler, a bit sadder, and even slow down their lifestyle. They may lose interest in things and even stop eating.

Here are a few facts about Depression in the elderly. Depression will last longer in an elderly person. In nursing homes, it has been found that depression usually accompanies illness. Elderly people are more likely to die from that illness. They also are at greater risk for dying from a heart attack. Depression in the elderly is also likely to end in suicide.

Depression can be triggered by such things as Diabetes, Stroke, and Heart Disease.
Elderly people with Depression also have many higher insurances costs than those who are not depressed. It does not have to be like this for seniors; there are treatments available to them.

Psychotherapy is very helpful in helping the elderly to work out issues and reduce or get rid of depressive symptoms. It is often very beneficial for those who don't want to take medications or those who refuse them.

Antidepressant medication for the elderly may take longer to become effective. There is always the concern that they may forget to take their medications. There is also the concern that they may refuse the medication altogether.

Electroconvulsive Therapy - ECT is known as shock treatments. An explanation of how the procedure is done, can be found below.

Before the procedure is actually done the patient is given both a general anesthetic and a muscle relaxant.

If it is performed correctly, a seizure will result. The muscle relaxant is designed to prevent this.

Electrodes are placed on the scalp and very controlled electric pulses are delivered through the electrodes. This cause brief seizure activity in the brain.

The patient's muscles are relaxed so usually the result is slight hand and feet movements.

The patient wakes up within minutes but is often confused. They do not remember the procedure or events surrounding the procedure.

There are other brain stimulation procedures that can be done but it would be up to the treating physician whether they would be effective for an individual. Some can be invasive. It would greatly depend on the seriousness of the depression.

Since most prescribed medications often have some serious side effects, many people are searching out natural means to treat depression. Depression herbs are mixed in a specially formulated blend that is believed to affect moods. Although herbal treatments are natural, they do have some side, although not as serious or plentiful as with prescribed medications. Also, they could drop the efficacy of a prescription that one might be taking.

Herbal supplements should be made to pharmacy grade to ensure purity and that the ingredients that are said to be in the supplements actually are in it. The metabolic paths should have been tested at the molecular level for each particular ingredient if one wants to obtain the best possible therapeutic benefits. The interactions between the ingredients are also tested.

Treatments & Clinical Depression (for the) Elderly can be tricky because there is the possibility they may refuse or forget to take the medication. There is always the chance they will be fully cooperative with the protocol. Just because you (or someone you love) are aging, does not mean that they have to slow down, feel sad all the time, or change their lifestyles. Given the right care and treatment, they could live very productive lives for a long time.