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Mental Illness In The Elderly Essay

726 Words3 Pages

Mental Illness and the Elderly Article Critique #2 About 3 years ago, I was a CNA and worked in a nursing home. Working there, I was witness to many different cases of mental illness in the elderly. I found an article called “Depression in Older Persons Fact Sheet” and after reading the chapter on mental illness in the elderly, I felt compelled to read more about it. This article has no author, by was reviewed by Ken Duckworth M.D. in October of 2009. I found this article on the NAMI website. It addresses many questions about mental illness in the elderly from the statistics to treatment. Within the elderly population, depression may go undiagnosed or be commonly mistaken for other diseases such as Alzheimer’s or cancer, among other things. Of the 35 million Americans who are over the age of 65, approximately 6.5 million are affected by depression. “Depression in older persons is closely associated with dependency and disability and causes great suffering for the individual and the family” (Depression). Many of the elderly fail to report symptoms of depression because they are afraid that it will be seen as a weakness or that they will be made fun of. According to this article, many elderly people think it is just a normal part of growing old and do not immediately recognize the symptoms. Left untreated, depression can …show more content…

I saw many cases of mental illness of varying degrees, working in the nursing home. When you are around it constantly like I was, you tend to overlook some symptoms. I understand how some caregivers would be overwhelmed by the thoughts of having to care for a family member with a form of mental illness. I cared for many different patients diagnosed with illnesses ranging from Alzheimer’s to Parkinson’s and including some with depression and it was quite possibly the hardest, yet most rewarding job I ever

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