Unconsciously, all these losses remind one of the imminent end of one's only life, which can lead to despair. In Eric Erikson's last stage of life, the battle is to hold on to integrity, to accept one's significance, and thus avoid despair. Despair is often hidden behind a display of disgust with various people and institutions, showing the person's contempt for himself. But of these, only the ones with a genuine psychiatric diagnosis were actually suicidal. The answer for those with a clinical depression is to first admit it and seek help.
Current treatment calls for one of the many new antidepressants, which have minimal side effects.
It should also include counseling which would help the elder deal with the losses and regain a sense of his own significance. One of the problems about clinical depression in elders is that it rarely remits spontaneously, as it often does in younger people. It is actually very safe and rarely leads to more than transient memory loss. Ending a depression as fast as possible is important since the depression subtracts such a large percent of the time to live and enjoy life. As we all know, loneliness can be a painful emotion.