- Depression often happens in old age
- Memory impairment in old age: setting sun syndrome
- Dangerous delusions in old age
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We often say that God has failed in old age. It changes a person's appearance, well-being and psyche in a negative way. And this is doubly distressing, because the aging of the soul is incomprehensible to many people.
Atold agea person loses the ability to adapt to new situations, the ability to positively look at the world and people, sense of humor. He is surprised at many things. He is less and less interested in general matters, but also those related to friends, even relatives.
He moves away, withdraws, and the environment cannot, and sometimes does not want to make contact with him. So he feels very lonely. From this state of mind and spirit of old people, it is only a step to descend into depression, delusions, or other disorders or even mental illness. They make old age even more difficult.
Depression often happens in old age
The plague of elderly people is depression, often not recognized even by doctors. It is estimated that up to 50% of people suffer from it. the elderly population. It is rarely treated, because in common opinion, old age must be sad, and someone gray and wrinkled has the right to be gloomy, complain about everything.
Meanwhile, these are symptoms of depression that can be successfully treated, although it is not easy. Doctors, especially first contact doctors, generally cannot do this. They write down the doses of medication intended for middle-aged people for older patients.
They do not take into account the fact that the old organism is not well absorbed. As a result, after a few days, the patient develops side effects and discontinues the drug. And the disease continues to develop. Therefore, if a loved one shows a deterioration in mood, increased self-criticism, sleep and appetite disorders, anxiety, anxiety or slowing down of movements, we should consult a specialist, i.e. a psychiatrist.
He will best determine whether it is a short-term disorder or the onset of a severe illness (depression in many elderly people leads to suicide).
Memory impairment in old age: setting sun syndrome
About 20 percent old people suffer from disturbed consciousness. They are the result of ischemia and hypoxia of the brain. The most trivial cause is dehydration.
It is associated with the fact that in old age, as a result of less thirst, you drink less and often take dehydrating drugs (toeliminate swelling).
When the body has too little fluid, the blood thickens and circulates slower, so that less oxygen and glucose reaches the brain. This is enough for consciousness disorders to occur.
The most common are the so-called haze, developing into the syndrome of the setting sun. Fogs are short periods, lasting a few minutes, at most an hour, repeated in the evenings, when quite recent events of everyday life are forgotten.
This is the first symptom of the sunset syndrome. In the morning and until noon, the old man is in great shape, he knows everything correctly. In the evening, the blood pressure drops, the blood flows lazily in the veins and everything starts to mix.
An old man says to his wife: "We were supposed to go to the store - when are we going to do this shopping?" Surprised, the wife replies: "But we were shopping in the morning". These disorders clearly worsen at night.
Then the family claims that you cannot get along with your grandfather or grandmother because he talks badly or behaves strangely, e.g. he gets dressed and wants to go home. Translating that there is a house here does not help.
Grandma remembers that there was a chest of drawers under the window in her room (it was 30 years ago), which is not here. Few families take Grandma delusional to see the doctor.
Meanwhile, the disease will continue to develop. Even small short-term disturbances of consciousness always suggest that the brain's oxygen supply system is in a defect. And there are many causes and diseases that cause such failure - only a specialist doctor can recognize them.
ImportantThe brain ages like the rest of the body. The pace of this process depends on many factors. Psychologists say that from birth we collect the so-called the brain's reserve of redundancy, i.e. the reserve of the ability to create new connections between neurons that determine efficient thinking.
The more we expand this reserve in the period of development, the greater it is in old age. When the processes of renewing connections between neurons become slower and decay faster, the brain starts to draw on this reserve. And when she's exhausted, a person mentally changes.
Dangerous delusions in old age
In old age, problems with rational thinking and rational justification of events begin.
And so, for example, when an adult daughter moves out of the house, a 50-year-old mother can say to herself: "This is the way of things, I also left the family home once, but I didn't stop loving my parents, and they loved me." .
If children are transferred to theirs from their elderly mother, she thinks otherwise: "They don't need me anymore. I helped them raise my grandchildren, but now you can leave me alone.When they come to me, they only pretend that they want to know about my he alth, they really want money. "
From there, it is only a step to the accusation: "Recently I lost money from the drawer in the room. But I used to go to the kitchen when my daughter was at my place." In this type of reasoning, events form a logical whole, because our brain tends to create logical wholes, even if they are based on false premises.
People suffering from delusions are very unhappy and very burdensome to those around them. They are filled with fear, which goes hand in hand with feelings of aggression towards everyone - relatives and strangers. Everyone is up to something bad all the time.
The sick person feels threatened, he is afraid to approach anyone, befriend anyone, because this person may turn out to be an enemy.
In extreme cases, an old man barricades himself in an apartment, cuts off the gas supply, tears electric cables out of the wall or collects and stores items found in rubbish bins in the apartment.
Delusions, even in the early stages, must be treated. Psychotherapy is helpful in this, it helps to get rid of the belief that the surrounding world is a fierce battlefield and to notice that there is also human kindness and the willingness to help each other.
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