How To Spot Depression In Seniors
The first step to treating depression is being able to identify it. These symptoms may indicate that your elderly loved one is depressed:
• Feeling listless, tired, and unmotivated most of the time
• Changes in eating habits, either in terms of loss appetite or overeating
• Sudden mood changes
• Sleep problems, such as difficulty sleeping or oversleeping
• Loss of interest in socializing or favorite pastimes
• Increasing feelings of despair, chronic anxiety, insecurity or worthlessness
• Pattern of neglect, whether in terms of personal hygiene, housekeeping or skipping meals
• Fixation on thoughts of death and dying
Chronic pain, debilitating sickness, loss of a loved one are some of the more common causes of depression in adults.
Why You Should Seek Help For Depression
Depression can have an adverse impact on health and lower the quality of life at any age.
Seniors who are depressed often feel unmotivated to continue with any medication or treatment that is necessary for other life-threatening health conditions such as diabetes, kidney issues, or heart disease. This can lead to other health issues, which only makes the problems worse.
Leaving depression untreated can also be a major risk factor for suicide in seniors.
How To Help A Depressed Parent
The best thing you can do to help a loved one with depression is to stay connected to them. Make time to call and visit often. Just knowing that someone cares enough to take time out of their busy schedule can help overcome the loneliness and isolation that comes from being alone. If you live too far to visit regularly, at least make time to call regularly. It can help more than you may realize.
If your loved one is struggling with sleep issues, make an appointment with their doctor so they can prescribe the appropriate treatment.
Staying active is another effective way to stave off depression. Not only does physical activity increase the production of feel good hormones, it also offers opportunities to interact with other people, both of which help with reducing depression.
If you and your siblings live a distance away from your aging parent, you should consider assisted living where they will be surrounded by other residents in the same age groups. This opens up lots of opportunities for socialization as well as supervised age-appropriate activities. Assisted living communities have experienced staff who will take care of all your loved one’s nutritional and medicine needs. They also have professional staff who are qualified to deal with all types of age related issues, including depression.
