Fighting depression in senior citizens.

Many people age 60 or older grew up in an era in which depression was considered a sign of mental weakness. As a result, depression in senior citizens is an often overlooked condition that deserves more attention, notes Martiece Carson, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

Depression in seniors often is hidden within psychosomatic complaints--in other words, masked under the guise of physical conditions such as backaches, stomachaches, headaches, or even insomnia. But seniors, also, like young adults with depression, can complain of feeling sad, losing interest in fun activities, or losing their appetite for food as well as sex. These patients complain of anxiety and sleep disturbance along with their sad feelings. Whether [an individual] comes in with somatic complaints or clear-cut depressive features, there is a definite generational difference in the way people perceive depression. Part of the treatment has to do with convincing the patient that depression is a true illness--nothing to feel guilty about."

Old age brings with it a host of complicated emotional issues that could trigger short periods sadness--such as the death of a friend--but which shouldn't result in genuine depression. Learning to live with the death of a spouse or friend, or recognizing the reality of failing health or the necessity of moving into a nursing home are situations that most healthy senior citizens...