Family Therapy is also very helpful in assisting older people and their children in working out unrealistic expectations, guilt, and any unresolved issues that parents and children may have with each other. It is true that ECT may have been misunderstood and misused in the past but modern ECT, is a safe and effect method of treating depression. The procedure is done in a hospital under the care of a physician trained in its use. ECT can be the treatment of choice for depression in the older people if cardiac factors or severe, life threatening depression precludes the use of medications. In many cases ECT works well when other treatments have failed.
Depression is one of the more treatable diseases.
One beginning a course of treatment has every reason to be hopeful. Find a mental health provider who is knowledgeable in treating older patients. It can be a psychiatrist, a psychologist, or a social worker. A psychologist and a social worker will work in conjunction with a physician if medication therapy is warranted. Discuss your treatment plan with your therapist.