Elderly Mental Health: Needs

Abstract

This paper highlights the mental health needs of the elderly. It tackles the issues of their institutionalisation and community care. Rapid urbanisation in Indian society throws up special problems in elderly care. There is great evidence of a raise in morbidity, mortality, hospitalisation and loss of functional status related to common mental disorders in the elderly patients. Overlap of depression and anxiety is very common with up to almost half of the elderly patients reporting significant depressive and anxiety symptoms. Also, depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in late life. Growth in the elderly population means a direct increase in age related diseases such as dementia and poor mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, suicide and serious constraints on the quality of life among elderly individuals.The need to identify new and unmet problem areas and develop efficient therapeutic outcomes for this special population is stressed.

Differences in the Potential Accessibility of Home-Based Healthcare Services among Different Groups of Older Adults: A Case from Shaanxi Province, China

“…However, some scholars believe that older adults with negative psychological status have many problems in carrying out activities of daily living. In other words, there is an increased dependency on others and healthcare systems [31], which will increase the opportunity to take advantage of healthcare services. In terms of factors affecting psychological status, they include the change of social roles and responsibility, If the older adults have a strong perception to the healthcare services system, the older adults are more likely to use healthcare services, and the enjoyment of healthcare services in turn reduces the perceived vulnerability of the older adults.…”

Comparative assessment of psychosocial status of elderly in urban and rural areas, Karnataka, India

“…[1] Industrialisation and globalisation have broken the traditional values and norms within society resulting in disintegration of joint or extended family structures into nuclear ones, increasing the susceptibility of the older population. [23] Mental and neurological problems account to 6.6% of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) and 17.4% of Years Lived with Disability (YLDs) among elderly. [4]…”

Correlation Between Specific Component of Mental Health and Psychological Well-Being of Filipino Older People

“…As people age, the mental health needs also increases. There is a great body of evidence of a rise in morbidity, mortality, hospitalization, and loss of functional status related to common mental disorders among the aged (Parkar, 2015) [6]. Older people face special mental health challenges which need to be recognized (World Health Organization, 2016) [3].…”