Coming of Age - Mental health services for older people can make life worth living again Coming of Age Mental health services for older people can make life worth living again. While age brings many blessings, it also raises health concerns for many older people. But physical ailments aren t the only problems threatening senior well-being. Nearly 20 percent of Americans over the age of 65 suffer from psychiatric disorders serious enough to warrant intervention. UCI Medical Center geriatric professionals routinely make house calls to evaluate patients, whether they live in private dwellings or residential care facilities.
Many people never tell their doctors about the sadness or nervousness they re experiencing.
Others try to mask their symptoms with alcohol a strategy that can result in disaster. The most prevalent problem experienced by the elderly is depression, accounting for a higher rate of suicide among seniors than any other age group. But depression isn t normal at any age. Other conditions such as anxiety, obsessive- compulsive disorders and phobias also trap older people in a downward spiral of isolation and despair. Older people come from a generation where mental health problems weren t discussed.