She says losses are among the most traumatic issues of aging. Lonely and dependent, their former life gone, some older folks start to feel extraneous and useless. As a result, they often end up irritable, mean and short-tempered, she explains. Though we children might not recognize the cause, these symptoms are signs of depression, according to the therapist. Unless there's some form of intervention, older people are likely to find themselves caught in a riptide that continues to pull them under.
Depression makes people more sedentary, so it aggravates their health problems.
Then they do even less and fall even deeper into depression. A little nudge Adult children can help by recognizing the problem and offering ingenious ways to combat it. Because older people might no longer have all their coping skills and resources, dealing with losses is especially difficult. For one thing, the therapist points out, they don't have enough distractions. Adult children might try steering their parents into more positive directions.