Depression in the elderly

TESS

You are at risk of developing depression for the first time at any point in your life. But the older you are the greater the risk is for developing depression. The course of the depression is often more serious in the elderly. Depression in the elderly is often triggered by and combined with physical disease (for instance the flu) or social events such as small changes in everyday life or greater strains such as bereavement, hospitalization, or change of accommodation. In the elderly, it isn't necessarily sadness and a depressed mood that are the most prominent symptoms of their depression. Instead it might be tiredness, anxiety, irritability, and a lack of zest for life. The elderly may, if anything, feel more tormented than actually depressed.

Elderly people with depression often complain about the same problems again and again. It may be about their health problems or about things that others regard as trivial matters. This can mean that the depression may not be discovered, because the people around them regard the elderly simply difficult to deal with. Just as in younger people who develop depression, the elderly get memory and concentration impairments. This may cause depression in the elderly to be mistaken for dementia, which of course also causes impaired memory.