Psychological Diagnoses in Older People

As we age and become older we change physically and mentally. Delirium, Depression, and Dementia are some of the most common psychological diagnoses in older people today.

This will affect the health of the person and others will affect the quality of life that the person will have. Older adult tends to be more affected than younger adults.

Depression is a common mental disorder, characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, having the feelings of guilt or low self-worth, having disturbed sleep or appetite, or feelings of tiredness, and having poor concentration. Depression can be all throughout life or it can be recurrent. It can impair a person’s ability to function at school or at work. Giving them a difficult time to cope with their daily activities. Depression is one of the biggest issues in the world. Being socially isolated can lead to feelings of depression. Depression could be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain that medication can correct. It is suggested that depression among adolescents can be detected early if family members, school officials, and other people within the community recognize the warning signs. People experiencing depression are often sad and sometimes are having crying spells. They often are restless and have difficult times sleeping. They feel fatigued and irritable and often have feelings of shame or worthlessness. There are times when adolescents feel bored or lose interest in activities that they once enjoyed. When experiencing depression, they often have a hard time concentrating and making their own decisions.

People who have problems with dementia may also be at risk of malnutrition. People with dementia rely on others to help them to organize their day to day life such as preparing their meals. People with dementia are at risk of malnutrition because they may not be physically able to provide themselves with a balanced diet, there may also be the issue that they are not able to remember whether they have eaten and therefore decide not to make themselves. Dementia is a progressive diagnosis that can take place over months or years. Dementia occurs in smalls recurrent compared to other psychological diagnoses in the elderly. Age is also a major risk factor. The older the adult is the higher the risk of dementia can occur. Dementia has increased through ages 85 to 89 years (74.2 cases per 1000 person-years) and 90 years or older (105 cases per 1000 person-years) (Sarah E, Paul K, Sebastien J, Bowen (2015). There are different forms of dementia, but Alzheimer’s is the most common one of all the types. Dementia is associated with delirium during an acute stage and is hard to identify in patients with underlying dementia. Dementia causes a decline in executive functioning and memory. Resulting in a decreasing in the patient's overall quality of life because their activities of daily living can become more and more limited.

Behaviors and changes in mood are also noted in the patients. When a person suffers from dementia then they are at an increased risk of falls. People with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia tend to be at a high risk of falling. They are more than three times more likely to fracture their hip when they fall, which leads to surgery and immobility. The rate of death following a hip fracture for those with Alzheimer's is also increased. Thus, fall prevention for people with dementia is critical. Women have a longer life expectancy with dementia than do men but a smaller percentage of total life expectancy without dementia than do men (Sarah E, Paul K, Sebastien J, Bowen (2015). There are many causes for a person with dementia to fall over and jeopardize their health. The first is a thing is gait changes and poor balance, lack of physical exercise, memory impairment, poor judgment, and visual misperception.