Depression in Elderly Men

Man is the symbol of power and strength. Men should have the leadership quality with the ability to handle any stressful situation. The mental strength of men should also increase as their age are increasing. But sometimes old aged people are starting to develop depression as their age increases. Depressive disorder in older people is common and but often is ignored by family and doctors. Depression is common in about a quarter of over 65- year-old people. Maybe 1 in 3 people living in residential homes are attacked by depressive illness.

Here are some common reasons which are responsible for depression in elderly men:

• Retirement.
• Social Isolation.
• Financial Dependency.
• Health Issues.
• Break of Regular Activities etc.

Retirement from work often leads middle aged men or elderly men to develop depression. There are many families which solely financially depend on the man for their livelihood. So if the man took retirement from his work it could create financial problem and this problem could be responsible for developing depression. After retirement from work the old people think that they losses their self respect since they cannot contribute to the family. If an elderly man lost his wife then he also could develops depressive illness. Isolation from social network and interval of regular routine life also lead depression among old men.

Depression also affect most of the hospitalized patients who at their middle age. It could be happen for many reasons for example, stressful situation of their daily routine, pain, loss of social contacts, and the effects of complicated medication. The elderly hospital patients are being unable to recover quickly due to depressive illness.

However, the depressive disorder of elderly men is successfully treatable. Elderly people can respond brilliantly after taking medication for depression. If the old men can consult with doctor within proper time and take the medicine regularly then not only it will reduce depressive illness but also it will reduce other illness.

The elderly men often become unaware of physical symptoms of depression. They only able to recognize the psychological symptom as depressive illness and would not be able to take proper treatment due to their unawareness. The following symptoms are usually identified by the old men:

• Grief
• Guilt feelings
• Tiredness
• Lack of interest
• Worthlessness

Old aged people would not be able to realize that there also could be some physical symptoms or outcomes of depression and they often recognized those symptoms as the effect of growing old. If the following physical symptoms are found in any man during his middle age then he should take immediate action to confirm that whether he is developing depression or not, the corporeal signs of depressions are:

• Reduced sleep
• Weight loss
• Poor appetite
• Constipation
• Mood swings
• General slowing down and so on.

Even sometimes the doctor also could not be able to recognize the depression in old patients. In most cases, the older persons treat the physical and mental symptoms as the signs of heart disease, stroke even cancer and get wrong medications. As a result their illness becomes more severe which can lead to major depressive order such as hospitalize or suicidal thoughts and suicidal death.

If the older men can identify their symptoms and the reasons behind the illness, then they can save themselves at the very early stage of their depressive disorder. The old men should be more careful and educated themselves about depression so that they can take help from the doctor and other treatment center as early as possible.

By taking effective medicine or doing meditation course they can make their life style more developed and lively. Other psychotherapy and antidepressant medication are also very effective ways to get rid of depressive illness.

The combination of antidepressant medication and psychotherapy will also prolong the life of old patients and give them energy to rejoice their life again.