Our guest contributor Matthew Boyle is the Chief Operating Officer of Landmark Senior Living, a series of top-rated senior living communities in the Midwestern United States.
Addressing Mental Health in Older Adults
The senior population faces many challenges when it comes to mental health disorders. One of the greatest challenges to overcome is the relative invisibility of their problems, an invisibility that leads to the problems being brushed aside and ignored. However, rates for these disorders are actually higher in the senior population than any other age demographic, making seniors a population in critical need of support and intervention.
When left untreated, mental health disorders among seniors can worsen health conditions, decrease life expectancy, and increase healthcare costs. The two most common, depression and anxiety, are associated with a decreased quality of life, premature institutionalization, and early mortality. In fact, seniors currently have one of the highest suicide rates in the nation, roughly 30% higher than the general population. White males over the age of 85 commit suicide at a rate nearly 4 times that of the general population.
Undertreatment in Seniors
Untreated mental disorders among seniors occur for a variety of reasons. Our society neglects these issues due to a pervasive stigma and lack of understanding surrounding aging. Several of those factors include:
Ageism
Ageism is a stereotype that mental disorders, such as dementia and depression, are simply natural parts of old age. While the risk of these ailments increases with age, they are not guaranteed. All too often, symptoms of these disorders are accepted as eccentric qualities in seniors. This leads to less effort towards addressing them.
Stigma
Despite better cultural awareness and education on mental health, mental health disorders are still treated with a certain level of shame. Stigma impacts seniors even more so because of long held biases and perspectives that seniors may have grown up with the disorders. This stigma discourages seniors from acknowledging their mental health needs and discourages families from seeking treatment.
Ignorance
Most people are entirely unaware of the intricacies and associated ailments of aging. This lack of education is part of what contributes to stigma and ageism. When individuals do not understand the severity and diversity of behavioral conditions in later life, problems often go unnoticed and treatment often arrives too late.
It is vital that researchers help translate their findings into applicable practices when it comes to the best ways to help identify and treat seniors struggling with these disorders. By developing better geriatric mental health guidelines, the senior housing and assisted living communities can better improve the lives of older adults and their families, ultimately reducing costs to the healthcare system.
Why is it so important? First, healthy adults still make valuable contributions as employees in the workforce, community, and in organizations around the world. Seniors everywhere could benefit greatly from greater attention paid to mental health matters that they could be silently suffering from.
The population of seniors in the U.S. is actually expected to double in the next 20 years, meaning the number of adults with mental health disorders will nearly double to about 14 million people, which could put a strain on healthcare services. Currently, fewer than 40% of older adults with mental and/or substance use disorders get treated. That would leave 5.6 million older adults suffering without help.
Treatment Strategies for Older Adults
It will be important for healthcare providers and society as a whole to become better equipped at addressing mental health in older adults. This can be accomplished through a number of ways, including better training for health professionals, developing sustainable policies for long-term care, and creating more age-friendly services.
Promoting Health
Senior mental health can be improved with simple and light changes to daily life. It starts with creating a healthy and conducive environment that supports not only seniors’ well-being, but also allows people to lead a healthy and independent life. Things like having security, independence, social support, and fun activities can go a long way towards improving a senior’s state of mind.
Interventions
The quick recognition and treatment of mental health disorders is essential. While medication may be the best approach for some individuals, there are several psychosocial therapeutic approaches shown to have net positive effects for seniors when it comes to mental well-being. The most important thing about implementing these strategies is making diagnosis early on. By identifying and treating mental health symptoms right away, future damage can be averted.
Community Support
Surrounding seniors with a supportive community goes a long way towards preventing negative mental health outcomes. At a community level, providers and peers can give seniors positive feedback and encouragement when it comes to dealing with mental health issues. An environment of support ensures that seniors feel cared for and capable of coping with mental health disorders.
In Conclusion
Overall, depression, psychoses, suicide, epilepsy, dementia and substance use disorders are serious problems faced by the senior community. Older adults need comprehensive and tailored services in order to effectively cope and thrive. For more information about senior living and senior support services, check out Landmark Senior Living.
BIO
Matthew Boyle is the Chief Operating Officer at Landmark Senior Living, a series of top-rated senior living communities in the Midwestern United States. He has been working in the healthcare space for 7 years and graduated from Duke University in 2011 Summa Cum Laude. Guided by a relentless pursuit of excellence, Matthew and the team at Landmark are dedicated to creating a supportive environment for the elderly.
