Humanity is developing, society is advancing, and geriatric depression is gradually developing as a common mental illness in the elderly. It is characterized by depressed mood, lack of interest and reduced activity. The onset of the disease is over 60 years old. The incidence of geriatric depression is 12.89%, in which the mortality rate of suicide among the elderly aged 64-75 is 47.8 per 100,000, which has become an important factor affecting the mental and physical health of the elderly. Elderly patients differ from younger patients in terms of symptoms, such as more physical discomfort, more anxiety symptoms, etc. There are also some differences in treatment with younger patients with depression, but the essence is the same.
So what manifestations can remind us that the elderly around us suffer or may suffer from depression?
1, sudden change in temperament often blames himself
If a person who is usually cheerful suddenly becomes crowd avoiding, lazy to talk, loves bed, often cries alone, and even says that he has committed a big crime and is sorry to everyone, but the crime he says is a trivial matter or an old story in the eyes of others, this situation will often attract the attention of family members and seek medical attention.
2.Insomnia
It is one of the common symptoms of depression, especially characterized by early awakening. Patients may wake up in the early morning every day, and at this time, they may be in a very low mood, not knowing how to get through the painful and long day. In the afternoon and evening, the patient’s mood is slightly better than in the morning. It is a characteristic of depression that the illness is heavy in the morning and light in the afternoon.
However, most elderly people have atypical signs of depression, which can be easily overlooked and missed for treatment.
The following manifestations should be noticed, and suggest the possibility of depression in the elderly if depressive syndrome caused by physical diseases is excluded.
3.Common manifestations of geriatric depression
(1) Discomfort in various parts of the body
Gastrointestinal system discomfort, such as abdominal distension and diarrhea, anorexia and nausea; cardiovascular system discomfort, such as panic, breathlessness, chest tightness; motor system discomfort, such as low back pain, headache, generalized pain; plant nervous system discomfort, such as generalized cold and hot, sweating, etc.
(2) Tension, fear and anxiety
Such as worrying about not spending enough money, children can not take care of themselves, they can not do housework, family accidents, etc., these in other people’s view unnecessary worry, but the patient is therefore restless, food and even do not eat and drink, suicide, self-injury, impulsive injury
(3) Memory loss and intelligence decline
Patients often feel that their brains are slowing down and they can’t remember anything. Unlike Alzheimer’s disease, patients can recognize that they have problems with memory and intelligence, and that memory and intelligence can be gradually restored as the depressive symptoms ease.
Severity of self-consciousness Ridiculous thoughts that are incomprehensible to others may appear, such as thinking that one’s intestines are rotting, one is terminally ill, or one has become poor; one has committed a heinous crime.
The above are the manifestations of psychological symptoms of geriatric depression. In real life, we also encounter elderly people who have various physical discomforts and frequently visit various general hospitals, but because the corresponding organic lesions are not detected, they mistakenly think that the doctor’s level is not high or complain that the modern testing level is too low, not knowing that many physical discomforts that are not detected may be the somatization symptoms of depression.
Somatic symptoms of geriatric depression include.
(1) Pain syndromes, such as headache, leg pain, chest pain, back pain, abdominal pain and generalized pain;
(2) Chest complaints: chest tightness, shortness of breath;
(3) Digestive system: anorexia, abdominal discomfort, bloating, constipation;
(4) The symptoms of the vegetative nervous system are redness, hand trembling, sweating, and generalized weakness.
Among these symptoms, headache and pain in other parts of the body, which cannot be found in the organic background, are common. In addition, generalized weakness, insomnia, and early awakening are also common symptoms.