Geriatric Depression!

The place where I live was featured in Korean news a few weeks ago due to the heat over 40 degrees. In this place where July is coming to an end, the heat of over 40 degrees seems to have subsided and the weather has returned to normal. However, compared to the cool air, the sunlight is too strong and it is not easy to cool the heat. A few weeks ago, I knew that many Korean elderly people living here are visiting the senior citizen center every day despite the fearlessly scorching sunlight after I visited there and did a lecture for the elderly by chance. I found out that many people regularly visit there every day to learn dance, draw, play table tennis, and take classes on gateball, the Internet, and cooking.

Health is the most important issue for the elderly. The various health problems that come with age are unavoidable realities of the elderly. The biggest issue will be money as well. Even though they made a lot of money when they were young, the reality of no income makes the old people cold. Going one step further, if the elderly have problems with their families, this is the worst-case scenario. If problems such as discord with their sons or daughters, loneliness caused by children who have all left their parents alone, or discord with wife or husband add up to health and financial problems, then it would be really better to die than to live. In some cases, the death of a spouse or close friends disappearing from this world one by one can be said to give a truly fatal pain to the elderly.

Geriatric depression!

There are many different causes of depression in the elderly. All of the problem situations mentioned above can be a cause of depression, and in addition to that, people with arrogant and stubborn personality may be more vulnerable to depression. Also, for health reasons, geriatric depression may be caused by abnormal symptoms such as thyroid, Parkinson's, dementia, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular system, or drugs used to treat them. Whatever the cause, the important thing is that the symptoms of depression are distinct from those typically experienced by young people. The most common symptom is also a complaint of somatic symptoms. They complain to their sons and daughters that they are sick here and there, but when they go to the hospital and examine them, they often do not find particularly painful areas, and in this case, it is reasonable to suspect geriatric depression. In addition, sleep disturbance is a common symptom found in geriatric depression, and along with it, emotional and emotional characteristics such as anxiety, nervousness, or guilt may be shown. In many cases, they complain of a decrease in cognitive functions such as attention and memory, and symptoms that can be regarded as dementia appear. In fact, there are studies that show that there is a high correlation between dementia and depression.

In Canada, about 6 million people, or 15% of the elderly population, suffer from depression, whereas in Korea, according to 2019 statistics, about 21% or 309,749 people over 65 years old are exposed to geriatric depression.

In particular, attention should be paid to geriatric depression, which is suicide related to depression. All of the above-mentioned causes of depression, i.e., life events, health, and economic problems, caused depression, which made suicide a very big social problem compared to other age groups. Even today, the news of the suicide of the elderly, which is often found, breaks our hearts. In 2018, the suicide rate of the elderly over 65 in Canada was 10.3 per 100,000 and the OECD average suicide rate was 11.3, which was 28.4 in Korea, which shows how serious suicide is among the elderly in Korea.

In modern life, where the average life expectancy is more than 100 years rather than 60 or 70 years, if you are only in the room, it seems that this is not the case. There is still more than 20 years of life waiting before you die, and it is futile to do nothing and just wait for death in a room for 20 years. For the elderly who visit the senior center every day to participate in and learn from various activities, the word “depression” must be a very distant story. I think it is the duty of the community in modern society to help the elderly who cannot or do not come out and live in hiding at home and to help them participate in these activities and find vitality in their lives.

Elderly people also need to make choices. What are you going to start with now, or are you going to die just watching TV for a few decades?

It's not too late now, so let's start something new! There are still several decades left to live. During that time, you can do a lot of anything. Even if we die tomorrow, let's start something new! If you think about dying after finishing it, you will have the strength to live more. Instead of blaming the body for not moving, let the mind move the body.