The paper attempts to examine depression in elderly people and how it affects their lives. The paper also examines the concept of depression in older people using three theories; disengagement theory, conflict theory and symbolic interaction theory. Apart from the theories the paper seeks to identify symptoms of depression, causes, treatments and how to prevent depression in elderly people. Empirical studies reveal that the depression is not part of normal stages ageing. In fact, depression is more common in midlife than in the elderly stage, despite being not severe in the midlife. On the other hand, depression may not be severe in elderly people but has devastating consequences (Brink & Lichtenberg, 2014).

The term depression can be defined as severe dejection that normally occurs over a long period, and the person feels hopeless and inadequate. According to Paolucci and Paolucci (2007), depression can result from life stress or loss, but the danger of depression is that it settles when the life still goes on. People start to feel that they “shouldn’t feel this way” and that others are worse than them. They comfort themselves that they will pull out of the feeling alone. Common symptoms of depression include loss of interest or pleasure, extreme low moods and severe problems when working at home or office. In addition, there are other common signs of depression such as problem concentrating or thinking clearly, feeling either slowed down or anxious, low energy, problem eating or sleeping, feeling worthless or overly guilty and having recurring thoughts of suicide or death. The most common type of depression on old people is non- melancholic depression linked to personal characteristics, psychological factors and stress life events (Paolucci & Paolucci, 2007).

Theoretic perspectives of depression in elderly people

Some theorists have brought criticism about the role of an aging population in respect to the common good of the society. According to disengagement theory, the scholars predict that as people age, they progressively withdraw from participating in social activities, and the society simultaneously relieves them of their responsibilities (Andersen & Taylor, 2007). The young people infuse their talents at work places with energy and stamina by taking over from the elderly people. As the old people are diminishing usefulness increases, the society rewards them less and eventually justifies their depressing earning power (Andersen & Taylor, 2007). In view of the conflict theorists, the theory assesses the depression of the elderly people not on the basis of what they contribute, but on what they want. Jobs as scarce resources stand out to be a basic need under competition among the existing age groups. The theory argues that barring the elderly from the labor market paves the way for increasing the prospects of the adults and the middle aged. Once eliminated, the elderly cannot access resources they need to change their situation leading to depression. The third approach uses the symbolic interaction theory that people attach different meanings towards age stratification based on the social settings. The theory considers the role of these social meanings to analyze how people manage and explain death. For instance, most people view old people as weak and senile, and they spent a lot of their time alone, leading to depression (Andersen & Taylor, 2007).

Signs and symptoms of depression on old people

Old people often report to the doctors with chronic unexplained physical symptoms and after diagnosis, there is no enough medical explanation found. Some of the common symptoms include chronic aches and pains, dizziness, insomnia, weight loss, and constipation. Although it is apparent to establish that these symptoms are connected to depression, an older person in extreme cases may believe he is suffering from an incurable disease; consequently, increasing the risk to die. The state of fear leads to depression. Depression in elderly people often manifests itself by memory loss in which a person memory keeps changing. Fortunately, the underlying depression is treatable if there is no corresponding dementia. Furthermore, behavioral changes are common to old people with depression. Such changes include; avoiding leaving home, shoplifting, refusing to eat, and alcohol abuse. Other behavior changes include preoccupation with writing righting the will, taking about death, giving away personal belongings and taking sudden interest in firearms (Tolson, Booth & Schofield, 2011).

Causes of depression on old people

One of the causes of depression is the physical illness and the complication shares complex relationship with disability and depression through biological mechanism. The elderly people can suffer from depression due to cancer, vitamin deficiencies and infections, thyroid disease and cerebrovascular disease is a common risk factor for late life depression. Doctors recommend old people who experience depression for the first time to have a thorough medical check up. Physical illnesses such as permanent disability to old people can cause depression by restricting mobility of a person. Such patients require self care assistance; however, they lose dignity, fear from institutionalization and feel they are a burden to their families. Some of the medications given to the old people can cause depression as a side effect. For instance, drugs used treat patients with high blood pressure, tranquilizers, pain killers and steroids (Tolson, Booth & Schofield, 2011).

The older people suffer from depression, as a result, of social isolation and loneliness when they choose to live on their own or no close family ties, lack of connections with ancestral families or due to lack means of transport that leads to inability to be an active participant in the local community. Depression sets in when a person has a disability and eventually lives in social isolation. Another factor that triggers depressive symptoms is loss in old age. Old age represents a period where both symbolic and real losses are frequent and cumulative such as death of their partner, friends, pet, loss of their independence, health, siblings, home and lifestyle (Tolson, Booth & Schofield, 2011).

Even though the biological processes influence the aging of the elderly people, social factors contribute to a larger extent by determining the life expectancy. Menopause marks the old age of women and the society labels them with stereotypic traits such as being prone to irritability and depression. As argued by Andersen and Taylor (2007), the social circumstances the old people live have varying stereotypes about the elderly people. For example, some social groups portray young people as carefree and the older people as childish; a common cause of depression referred as the infantilization of the elderly. Furthermore, studies of gender interaction reveal that women grow older much sooner than men. As a result the society perceives old women to have lost their sexual appeal while the old men are still handsome, desirable and dashing. Therefore, gender interaction and the stereotypic perception of the elderly contribute to depression on women compared to men (Andersen & Taylor, 2007). Age prejudice and discrimination are another factors so prominent in our culture that people believe in myths created about them. They are stereotyped as passive victims, old fat or old “geezers” (Andersen & Taylor, 2007). As a result, the prejudice relegates the elderly to a lower status in the society. The elderly people in the employment sectors suffer from depression associated with age discrimination. Employers view them as being slow, and that they often do things on their own behalf (Andersen & Taylor, 2007).

Treatment of depression in elderly people

There are a number of treatments available for treating depression on older people. Antidepressant medicine works effectively for the elderly people with severe depression. However, it is recommended to perform trials of up to six weeks since they take the long time to work. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an important treatment for psychotic and melancholic depression in case the patient has severe depression or fails to respond to medication. Although the usual range for psychotherapist is applicable for non-melancholic depression, the therapists need to consider limitations imposed by poor eyesight, poor hearing and physical discomfort. In addition, other treatments such as musical therapy, physical exercise and social activities are applicable for reducing depression (Tolson, Booth & Schofield, 2011).

How to prevent depression in old life

Some scholars argue that life changes that occur in the midlife can be the key towards preventing depression in old age. For example, cerebrovascular disease (a known risk factor for causing depression in elderly people), is preventable during the early stages by controlling causative factors such as stopping cigarettes smoking, reducing blood sugar level cholesterol in lipid levels, doing more physical exercise, eating diet rich in fish, greens and grains, and weight control. In addition, the older people can engage in social activities, mental stimulation and control of chronic pains. There are social strategies that can assist older people to break the prison of depression. For example, treating any insomnia by assisting the elderly people to practice good sleep hygiene can prevent the common bad sleep habit that compounds the problem. Older people can carry photos of their significant others, and reports show that just by looking at the photo reduces the pain stimuli in the heart and hence lowers depression (Tolson, Booth & Schofield, 2011).

Conclusion

Many older people are reluctant to accept that they may suffer from depression by believing there is a stigma associated with an illness they could be having while some may be willing to know about the state of their depression. However, many elderly people do not bother to seek help because they feel hopeless in life and that there is nothing that can be done to change their situation. As a result, the symptoms of depression can be very severe on them when the depression goes undetected and continues indefinitely. The elderly people under depression can attempt to commit to find their way out, and it is, therefore, important to detect the onset of the symptoms so that they can get treatment and regain the joy in their lives (Brink & Lichtenberg, 2014).

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