The Effects of Depression on Older Adults

This assignment provides an in-depth analysis of the effects of depression on older adults, highlighting the physical and social consequences of untreated depression. It also discusses the significance of integrating medical and social care to address depression in elderly populations.

Analyse and evaluate the impact
depression may have on the individual,
their family and the community.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. Impact of Depression on individual...................................................................................1
2. Impact of depression on family..........................................................................................2
3. Impact of depression on community..................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Depression is a psychological disorder that links with the symptoms like depressed mood,
loss of interest or pleasure, feeling of guilt and irritation, felling worthless, poor concentration
and the disturbed sleep. The present report describes the impact of the depression on individual,
family and community. The people lives get ruined through facing such mental stigma. The
overall report relates to the depression in the older adults.
1. Impact of Depression on individual Restlessness- Depression is the mental disorder that causes anxiety among the old age
individual which leads to restlessness. By going through such phase the individual feels'
difficulty in taking rest and sitting straight. Restlessness creates trouble for the old age
individual in concentrating and they feel like their mind is not working or going blank
because of this mental disability. (García-Toro and et.al., 2016). It makes the body feel
fatigued, tensed and agitated. It affects the ability of the individual to sleep and capacity
to work properly. Physical Symptoms- An Individual's physical health and body gets affected in such
depressive phase like it causes gain or loss in the weight, may experience unexpected
pain including headache and chronic pain in the breast (Oh, K.Y. and et. al., 2019). It also
reduces the morale and motivation of the individual to live positive so it increases the
heart disease among the people. It also impacts the immune system of the elderly or
senior person and leads to inflammation in the body as well. Irritability- It is an agitation feeling that the person faces when he or she become
frustrated or get upset (Almarzooqi, and et.al., 2017). At time of depression, the
individual experiences stressful circumstances like poor self-care that generates a feeling
of irritation among the old age people and due to that the mental state of the person
impacts adversely. Fear of Death- The old people has a huge fear of death so in this depressed phase they
get more stressed by thinking of their death and lose the hope of living a longer life
(Haigh, E. A., Bogucki, Sigmon and Blazer, 2018).
 Other illnesses- Going through other diseases like diabetes, thyroid and blood pressure
also acts a major factor for increasing the depression in the old age individual as they
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consume several medicines which has side effects and impact the working ability of the
elder people.
2. Impact of depression on family Emotional suffering- The family suffers emotionally as they get tensed for their elder
ones and the attachment towards them makes the family members emotionally weak.
(Aktürk, Aktürk and Erci, 2019). The members are generally dependent on their elders so
it creates a fear of losing the closed ones that makes emotional implications in the family. Blaming each other- Depression creates a feeling of irritation and frustration in the older
people so without any reason they start blaming their children which leads to conflict
among the family and the quality of the relationship get affected negatively
(Demyttenaere and Van Duppen, 2018). Economic issues- Family is impacted regarding the economic issues through depression
in the older people like contribution in the property and separation of the household that
leads to the partition in the family. Disruption in routine life- The daily life of the family members get affected as they have
to take proper care of their elder ones who are suffering from such disorder or any other
disease. The members cannot live their life as a routine or normal life because they need
to look forward to the problems and lot of time has to be spent with the depressed person
so that they can get out of such problems (Rizzo, Han, Kang, Rowe, Kukowski and
Golden, 2018). Affects the relationships- The relationships among the family members get affected
adversely as the feeling of agitation in the old people creates difference of opinion that
means dispute is resulted in the family.
 Social Withdrawal- Through depression, the individual becomes more and more Anti-
Social and prefer to be more isolated which creates stress in their mind and also impacts
the physical health of that person. The individual starts avoiding in talking, facing and
meeting the family member (Gonyea, Curley, Melekis, Levine and Lee, 2018). They
show the least interest in attending any family function where they usually enjoyed when
they were normal.
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3. Impact of depression on community Creates negativity- The older adult person who are suffering from depression creates a
feeling of negativity in other adults and group of people by discussing the stressful and
negative things (Oh,Van Dam, Doucette and Murrough, 2019). The other people in the
group also start thinking on such negative issues and leads to adverse effects on the
community. Increasing disability- As per the statistics, depression is becoming a common problem
worldwide and increasing with high degree among the people. This increment causes the
disability to the sufferers in functioning the work which indirectly affects the whole
community as more and more people gets affected negatively by dealing with such
person. Increasing Attempts to suicide cases - Depression among the older adults negatively
impact the community as more and more suicide are happening (Rizzo, Han, Kang,
Rowe, Kukowski andGolden, 2018). This acts as a wrong way for overcoming this
disorder and the other people suffering from such disease will also think to attempt such
crime. Affects the workplace- The workers and the professional managers working with the
older adults who are suffering from depression faces challenges in relation to the work
environment like misbehaviour, stressful talks etc. (Demyttenaere and Van
Duppen,2018). They cannot function with positivity and efficiency and this leads to the
adverse work surrounding of the society.
 Impact on several areas- The lives of adults gets affected adversely and they loose many
opportunities in their life in context of earnings, health and life and the housing etc. They
also involve themselves in criminal attempt and does loses the ability to make right
decisions which negatively affects the society as the crime get increased and due to that
the several areas of the community suffers with such fraud and misleading activities. The
overall impact on the community includes the several areas of the lives of the people that
creates the negativity in the society.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that depression can cause saviour impact on the
lives of the older people, their family and over the whole community. Moreover, it is a serious
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mental disability and a common illness that adversely influence the emotional and the physical
health of the old age people. It has been articulated that older adults with depression face stress
and pressurize conditions like isolation and not getting the proper care that creates a feeling of
irritation. The report also describes that the family members also get affected in relation to the
collision in the relationship.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Aktürk, Ü., Aktürk, S., & Erci, B. (2019). The effects of depression, personal characteristics, and
some habits on physical activity in the elderly. Perspectives in psychiatric care, 55(1), 112-
118.
Almarzooqi, S. & et.al., (2017). The role of psychological flexibility in migraine headache
impact and depression. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science. 6(2). pp.239-243.
Demyttenaere, K. & Van Duppen, Z., (2018). The impact of (the Concept of) treatment-resistant
depression: an opinion review. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology. 22(2).
pp.85-92.
García-Toro, M., & et.al., (2016). Obesity, metabolic syndrome and Mediterranean diet: Impact
on depression outcome. Journal of Affective Disorders, 194, 105-108.Ogawa, S. & et. al.,
2019. Interactive effect of sleep duration and physical activity on anxiety/depression in
adolescents. Psychiatry research.273. pp.456-460.
Gonyea, J. G., Curley, A., Melekis, K., Levine, N., & Lee, Y. (2018). Loneliness and depression
among older adults in urban subsidized housing. Journal of aging and health. 30(3). 458-
474.
Haigh, E. A., Bogucki, O. E., Sigmon, S. T., & Blazer, D. G. (2018). Depression among older
adults: a 20-year update on five common myths and misconceptions. The American
Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 26(1). 107-122.
Oh, K. Y., Van Dam, N. T., Doucette, J. T., & Murrough, J. W. (2019). Effects of chronic
physical disease and systemic inflammation on suicide risk in patients with depression: a
hospital-based case–control study. Psychological medicine, 1-9.
Rizzo, V. M., Han, W., Kang, S., Rowe, J. M., Kukowski, R., & Golden, R. (2018). THE
IMPACT OF THE AMBULATORY INTEGRATION OF MEDICAL AND SOCIAL
(AIMS) MODEL ON DEPRESSION AND HEALTH RISK. Innovation in
Aging, 2(suppl_1), 556-557.
Online
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Effects of Depression: Physical, Social Effects of Depression. 2019. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.healthyplace.com/depression/effects/effects-of-depression-physical-
social-effects-of-depression>
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