Depression

Depression is a genuine disease, and elderly people are no strangers to the emotional and physical suffering associated with it, even through the symptoms may be less obvious in this population. It is important that depression be diagnosed and treated.

Spot the signs of depression

Other than feeling sad, the most common day-to-day symptoms are:

• disinterest, psychomotor retardation (difficulties concentrating, reduced alertness, memory lapses, difficulties following or participating in a conversation, etc.);
• a change in appetite, with significant variation in weight (5 % of body weight);
• sleep disorders, such as insomnia (difficulty falling asleep, waking up in the night) and hypersomnia (frequent desire to sleep, conscious or subconscious desire to seek refuge in sleep);
• fatigue, loss of energy, difficulty with sustained effort;
• lack of self-worth;
• blaming those around you;
• exaggerated doubts about the value of your actions and ideas;
• indecision when faced with the easiest of choices;
• recurrent thoughts of death and suicidal ideation, etc.

Depression is often underestimated at the expense of other diseases. In addition, other symptoms such as memory loss or sleep disorders can be wrongly attributed to normal ageing, or even to the early signs of dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

Consult your doctor

If you think you are suffering from depression, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible, because the sooner depression is treated, the better your chances of recovery.

Consult the directory to find your nearest doctor.