Age Is No Barrier to Lifting Depression's Heavy Veil
The New York Times, May 30th, 2006
Depression afflicts people of all ages, but it can be particularly devastating for older
people, who are less likely to seek treatment and more likely to commit Suicide
than younger adults similarly afflicted. The problems include the failure to
recognize the symptoms of depression in the elderly and the belief that nothing
can be done for people with ample reason to be depressed.
Some elderly people continue to regard depression as shameful or a sign of
weakness that should not be acknowledged even to physicians. Physicians, in
turn, often fail to ask the questions that will find depression in their older
patients.
The elderly came of age when little could be done for depression or when the
only treatments caused serious side effects. These are some of the quite
different facts about the problem:
•Depression is an illness of the brain, no different from diseases of other
organs. It should be diagnosed and treated just like any other disease.
•Regardless of health, treating depression is as effective in the elderly as
in younger people.
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