The Depressed Older Person Depression in the elderly is often manifested by memory problems, confusion, social withdrawal, loss of appetite, inability to sleep, irritability, and, in some cases, delusions and hallucinations. Feelings of sadness may or may not be acknowledged or shown. Thus, depression is often mistaken for dementia or the normal aging process and goes untreated. Even Alzheimer's patients, who are often severely depressed during the early stages of the disease, can gain extra years of functioning and pleasure with treatment for depression. The first step in helping the older person who appears to have symptoms of depression is a complete physical checkup.
Depression can be a side effect of a physical illness or of a medication to treat an illness.
If patients are confused or withdrawn, it is important that they be accompanied by a person who can give the doctor essential information about their medical history and receive instructions and recommendations. Seeking consultations with specialists is a relatively common experience for older patients, who often have multiple clinical problems. Therefore, the need for referral to a mental health expert to gain further diagnostic information can be readily understood by the older patients, particularly if care is taken to explain the interrelationship between physical health and emotional well-being. A major issue for the older person who has limited energy and financial resources is the length and type of treatment. Patients often believe that all mental health treatments involve many years of analysis, so they need to be told about the medications and relatively short-term psychosocial treatments now used successfully to help depressed adults of all ages.