What Are The Signs Of Addiction
Addiction is characterised by the selection of an action, behaviour, or substance to the exclusion or detriment of other aspects of one’s life.
Additions are frequently linked to the following feelings and behaviours:
- craving and fixation
- sacrificing other commitments so you can continue your addiction
- continuing addiction in spite of negative consequences.
Definition And Assessment Of Depression
Depression was assessed by means of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 , a widely-used self-report depression screener that consists of 9 items to assess depressive symptoms over the last 2 weeks. The PHQ-9 score can range from 0 to 27, since each of the 9 items can be scored from 0 to 3 . Scores10 represent clinically significant depressive symptoms, so for this study, depression has been defined as score10 in the PHQ-9. This is a common cut-point that has been used in previous studies and maximized combined sensitivity and specificity.
Are Flashbacks Hallucinations
The short answer is no. Flashbacks are intrusive memories, meaning they really happened – theyre not made up, whereas hallucinations are perceiving something as real that never happened, like a sound or visual. However, flashbacks arent always like the ones seen in movies, people may not always experience a visual but may feel everything they felt when it happened – the fear, panic and stress. They might also experience it with their other senses, hearing or feeling things that happened in the past.
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Eat To Support Your Mood
- References
Fiske, A., Wetherell, J. L., & Gatz, M. . Depression in Older Adults. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 5, 363389.
Lee, S. L., Pearce, E., Ajnakina, O., Johnson, S., Lewis, G., Mann, F., Pitman, A., Solmi, F., Sommerlad, A., Steptoe, A., Tymoszuk, U., & Lewis, G. . The association between loneliness and depressive symptoms among adults aged 50 years and older: A 12-year population-based cohort study. The Lancet Psychiatry, 8, 4857.
Fiske, A., Gatz, M., & Pedersen, N. L. . Depressive Symptoms and Aging: The Effects of Illness and Non-Health-Related Events. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 58, P320P328.
Depressive Disorders. . In Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. American Psychiatric Association.
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Older Adults and Depression Signs and treatment of depression in older adults.
Depression in Older Adults What it feels like, what the risk factors are, and how you can help yourself.
Antidepressant Use Linked to Bone Loss Covers two Archives of Internal Medicine studies on the connection between SSRI use in adults over 65 and abnormal bone loss.
Understanding Depression and Effective Treatment This fact sheet discusses depression with a focus on how psychotherapy can help a depressed person recover.
Depression support
Digital Tools And Resources
Mentemia is an app that allows you to set daily goals and track your progress in order to monitor, manage, and improve your mental health.
Small Steps are digital tools that can assist you in maintaining wellness, finding relief, or obtaining assistance for yourself, friends, or whanau.
HABITs Messenger is a uniquely New Zealand chatbot app designed for young people that feels like you’re talking to a trusted friend. Download it from your mobile device’s app store.
Triple P Online provides online parenting support through Triple P, Teen Triple P, and FearLess Triple P. Designed to assist parents in assisting their children and teenagers in dealing with life’s ups and downs, promoting wellbeing, and making family life more enjoyable.
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Our Body Is A Great Miracle
Have you ever bought a do-it-yourself kit? A bookcase for example. The kit contains a lot of shelves, screws and a manual. Your body is a little like that. It exists of billions of cells and every cell contains a manual for your entire body. This manual is called DNA a blueprint of your body. Your DNA makes you look the way you do.
Even the first cell with which your life began already had this complete blueprint. Your DNA specifies how your body is constructed head, arms, legs, your eye colour and the shape of your nose. But it also determines how your organs and limbs work together. Isnt that amazing?
So DNA is the manual of your body. It is a bit like the code of computer software. This code is needed for your computer to function correctly. It makes it possible to surf the internet on your computer, or write a letter.
Researchers discovered that if you were to write down human DNA in a book, you would need more than 1 million pages! That is more than 2,500 large volumes. And this code is stored in every cell of your body .
What Is Disordered Eating
Disordered eating refers to when you no longer have the usual habits of eating that most people have. This can affect how often you eat, how much you eat, the type of food you eat, how flexible you are around your eating habits and whether you experience pleasure in eating. Depending on the eating disorder, it may involve severe avoidance of eating or purging food you have eaten.
If you no longer have a sense of what is normal eating, you can read about healthy eating basics.
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Let Go Of The Less Important Things
It can help you to leave certain tasks to someone else. Sometimes that gives the feeling that you will lose control. That things dont get done the way you want them to. But if you try to do more than you can actually handle, you will have to learn to let things go. So you will have to ask other people for help. This can be difficult at times, but you still need to take bold steps to overcome your pride and fear of letting go.
Medical Conditions That Can Cause Elderly Depression
Its important to be aware that medical problems can cause depression in older adults and the elderly, either directly or as a psychological reaction to the illness. Any chronic medical condition, particularly if it is painful, disabling, or life-threatening, can lead to depression or make your depression symptoms worse.
These include:
- Multiple sclerosis
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Social Isolation And Depression In Older Adults
Everyone needs social connections to survive and thrive. But as people age, they often find themselves spending more time alone. Studies show that loneliness and social isolation are associated with higher rates of depression.
If youre feeling socially isolated or lonely, and you cannot see your friends and family in person for any reason, try reaching out over the phone or joining a virtual club. Find tips to help you stay more connected.
Depression And Older Adults
Feeling down every once in a while is a normal part of life, but if these feelings last a few weeks or months, you may have depression. Read this article to find common signs and symptoms of depression, treatment options, and if you or your loved one may be at risk for depression.
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How Is Ocd Treated
Some people take a long time to seek treatment for OCD. This can be because they think that the discomfort or distress they feel is somewhat normal. They often feel embarrassment or shame for having particular thoughts and feeling compelled to perform specific acts.
Treatment is 70% effective for those with OCD. The first step is to see your doctor, who can discuss with you the options available. These options may include a referral to a mental health specialist for talking therapy or medication to help you manage the obsessive thoughts and heightened anxiety you may feel.
Medicine
A variety of medicines have been helpful in the management of OCD. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are the most common medicines used for the treatment of OCD. SSRIs are also used to treat generalised anxiety and depression but may be prescribed at a higher dose for OCD.
After a number of weeks, you should begin to notice that you are having fewer intrusive thoughts, improved mood, reduced anxiety and an ability to begin tackling your compulsions through talk therapy.
Talking therapy
Cognitive behavioural therapy examines how you think, act and behave. The CBT approach to OCD proposes that obsessional thoughts continue because you can’t stop or ignore them easily. It is difficult to stop or ignore the thoughts, but you do have some choice around how you respond to your thoughts.
Treatment And Care Strategies To Address Mental Health Needs Of Older People
It is important to prepare health providers and societies to meet the specific needs of older populations, including:
- training for health professionals in providing care for older people
- preventing and managing age-associated chronic diseases including mental, neurological and substance use disorders
- designing sustainable policies on long-term and palliative care and
- developing age-friendly services and settings.
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When To See A Doctor
It’s normal to have down days from time to time. However, if you are feeling down for several days at a time and are unable to motivate yourself to engage in activities that you normally enjoy, consult your health care provider. This is especially important if your sleeping and eating habits have changed, you use alcohol for comfort or relaxation, you feel hopeless, or you consider suicide.
How To Help Someone
Remember, everyone’s experience with PTSD is different. Some people with PTSD say they feel that nobody understands them – but the more time they spend alone the less they feel like others will get what theyre going through.
Getting into this cycle of isolation can be particularly damaging – with any mental disorder it’s important to know that nobody has to go through it alone, so if you feel that someone you know may be suffering from PTSD, it can be really helpful to gently reach out to them – let them know youre there to talk if they need to.
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Depression In Older Adults
- Guides & Publications
- Depression in Older Adults
If you have a sad, despairing mood that lasts for more than two weeks, it may be depression. Depression is not the same as sadness, though it can be triggered by the sadness caused by loss , stress or major life change . Depression can also be caused by some medical conditions, such as chronic pain, thyroid problems, stroke or Alzheimers disease. Certain medications and alcohol use can cause depression as well. Depression may also develop for no apparent reason.
People who are depressed cannot just get over it. Depression is a biological illness caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. It affects thoughts, feelings, behaviour and physical health. Older adults who are depressed may have had episodes of depression throughout their lives, or they may have their first episode late in life. Depression can affect anyone at any age, but is often not recognized in older adults. This is because some signs of depression can be mistaken for signs of aging, and also because older adults who are depressed may not complain about feeling low. When left untreated, depression may continue for weeks, months or even years. Untreated depression is the main cause of suicide in older adults.
What are the signs of depression?
What can I do about depression?
Where can I get help or get more information?
Forms Of Toxic Positivity
Toxic positivity can take many forms. Some examples you may have encountered in your own life:
People tell you to “just stay positive” or “look on the bright side” when something bad happens, such as losing your job. While such comments are frequently meant to be sympathetic, they can also be used to silence anything you might want to say about what you are going through.
People will tell you that “everything happens for a reason” after you have suffered a loss. While such statements are frequently made in the belief that they are comforting, they are also used to avoid someone else’s pain.
When you express disappointment or sadness, someone tells you that happiness is a choice. This implies that if you are experiencing negative emotions, it is your fault for not “choosing” to be happy.
Such statements are frequently well-intentionedpeople simply don’t know what else to say or how to be sympathetic. Nonetheless, it is critical to recognise that these reactions can be harmful.
Such statements, at their best, come across as trite platitudes that let you off the hook so you don’t have to deal with other people’s feelings. At worst, these comments shame and blame people who are often dealing with extremely difficult situations.
Toxic positivity denies people the authentic support that they need to cope with what they are facing.
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What Treatments Are Available For Depression In Older Adults
Treatments for depression include medicine, psychotherapy or counseling, or electroconvulsive therapy or other newer forms of brain stimulation . Sometimes, a combination of these treatments may be used. The option a doctor might recommend depends on the type and severity of depression symptoms, past treatments, and overall health, among other factors.
I Understand How It Feels
I was just a little girl, six years old, when I concluded that there was something inherently wrong with me that made me insignificant and unworthy of love. My self esteem was terrible. This belief system not only affected the way I saw myself, but it also affected the way I saw other people as well. I knew that if someone was nice to me, they were really just pretending, they didnt actually care about me because that just wasnt possible. And this has been the core, the foundation, of my belief system my whole life and I couldnt even imagine thinking any other way.
A few years ago, I looked back to find the source of my beliefs and examining it from an adult perspective with greater understanding, I realized that the conclusion I made as a child wasnt true. My entire belief system was actually built up around misunderstanding and misinterpreting events in my life, but that discovery didnt automatically solve all my problems. It didnt make me instantly like myself or feel loved, valued and confident. It was more like the sensation of having someone pull the rug out from under me. I felt confused and disoriented. After all, I had decades of habits and tons of accumulated evidence that supported my old way of thinking. Everything I had always believed to be true had to be right, right?
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Biological Risk Factors And Physical Illness
Non-genetic biological risk factors for depression are particularly important in old age, largely because of age-related changes that make them more common in older adults. These biological risks include endocrine, inflammatory or immune, cardiovascular, and neuroanatomical factors. Furthermore, biological status may interact with efficacy of treatment.
It is well established that late life depression frequently occurs in the context of medical illness. Although virtually any serious or chronic condition can produce a depressive reaction, the conditions believed to be most strongly associated with depression include cardiac and cerebrovascular disease and neurological conditions, discussed in more detail below. Depression may also be caused by infections or malignancies. Diabetes has been investigated as a risk factor for depression, although recent research suggests that depression may actually be a risk factor for the development of diabetes.
Depression may be caused by certain medications . Diastolic hypotension is associated with low positive affect, which may explain why depression can be a side effect of certain anti-hypertensive drugs such as beta-blockers .
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
DIABETES
DEMENTIA
Finally, dementia may be a risk factor for depression due to psychological reaction to the cognitive and behavioral changes accompanying dementia. Because depression adds an additional burden to quality of life in demented patients , it is important to treat.
What You Can Do
While aging is an inevitable part of life, depression need not be part of it. Researchers agree that early recognition, diagnosis, and treatment can counteract and prevent depressions emotional and physical consequences.
Here are some issues to consider in addressing depression in an older adult:
- Be aware of physical limitations. Encourage an older adult to consult with a physician before making dietary changes or undertaking any new activity that may stress his or her stamina.
- Respect individual preferences. Because elderly people tend to be less amenable to lifestyle changes, they may be reluctant to adopt new habits or do things that their peers find highly enjoyable. A psychologist who specializes in aging issues can help tailor an individualized strategy to combat depression.
- Be tactful. An older person with fragile self-esteem may interpret well-intentioned encouragement as further proof of his or her declining condition. Others may resent any attempts at intervention. A psychologist can help friends and family members craft positive approaches for dealing with these and other sensitive issues.
APA gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Susan Silk, PhD, in developing this fact sheet.
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Coping With The Losses That Come With Aging
Posted April 15, 2017
Getting old is not for sissies. Bette Davis
When I was in my twenties everyone I knew was in psychotherapy, now everyone I know is in physical therapy. 70 year-old woman
When I was in my twenties most of my friends were getting married now most of them are widows. 78 year-old woman
Some people point to the benefits of getting old: you get a seat on the subway you have more time to travel. But most of us would rather stand up, if we can. And many elderly people have plenty of time to travel, but cannot afford it or dont want to travel alone.
Getting old involves lossloss of friends loss of spouse loss of siblings loss of status loss of hair loss of physical mobility loss of memory loss of hearing loss of eyesight and sometimes loss of financial stability. So it is not surprising that aging and depression often go together. Of course, aging is going on from birth and we have losses throughout lifefor some people major ones. But when we talk about aging, we usually mean old age. And when does that start? As many acute diseases have become chronic, people are living longer. Nowadays many people say 60 is the new 40, so when does old age begin? Maybe 70? Or maybe it begins when the losses start mounting upsomewhere between 65 and 75.