Mental Health and Aging - An Insight

Introduction

Mental health keeps changing and developing with aging, just like the physical health of a person. A person's mental well-being in older age is as important as it is at any stage of life as it impacts the psychological, emotional, and social well-being of an individual. Studies have shown that almost 20 percent of the population in the 55 and older age group suffers from mental health and neurological issues. The most common mental health problems seen with the aging process are depression, dementia, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and cognitive impairments.

However, these mental health issues are not a normal part of aging. They may usually arise from some important life changes occurring in a person's life, such as serious health issues, the death of a loved one, retirement, or isolation. These incidents cause stress, uneasiness, and sadness in a person’s life and put them at risk of developing anxiety and depression if they are unable to adjust and cope with these situations.

What Are the Warning Signs of Mental Health Problems?

Various signs of mental health problems are as follows:

• Feeling anxious, sad, confused, scared, upset.

• Change in sleeping patterns and eating habits.

• Drinking alcohol, smoking, and unusually using drugs.

• A feeling of numbness and emotionless.

• Social isolation and staying away from people.

• Difficult to get over some memories and thoughts from the mind.

• Irritability, anger, or aggressiveness.

• Tendency to harm people around or one's self.

How Does Aging Impact the Mental Health of a Person?

Aging can affect a person’s mental health in the following ways:

1. Loss of identity: This can be a cause and also the symptom of depression while aging. When a person does not find fulfillment, joy, and a purpose in their daily life, they often become depressed with the aging process and doubt their self-worth. Older adults usually start feeling lost mainly after they get retirement from work, especially when their purpose and sense of belonging came from the work they were doing. In some scenarios, if a person is suffering from any health condition and is taken care of by others, they often feel an identity crisis of not being able to manage their things. Therefore, they can develop mental health issues while being unable to cope with such situations in life.

2. Social Isolation: Feeling social and physical isolation while aging is a very common problem among older people. Aging affects the person's health and makes it difficult for them to be socially active physically or mentally and thus they tend to isolate themselves. This has a very negative consequence as their mental health along with physical health gets affected which further contributes to depression. Some people lose their social connections post-retirement and other may develop some chronic illnesses and get demotivated to socialize with people around them and thus isolate themselves

3. Physical Health Conditions: Chronic physical health conditions affect people emotionally as they are unable to perform their daily routines. This in turn has a negative impact on their mental health. Various psychological and neurological diseases are linked with depression, dementia, and cognitive impairment. In addition, medications used for the treatment of these physical health conditions, effects the emotional state, energy level, and mood of a person, and thus play a major role in aging and mental health.

4. Loss of Loved Ones: Losing close ones such as siblings, spouses, or friends is incredibly painful and the fact that now the person has to live alone without them and adjust to this new life adds more to their grief. It causes hopelessness and depression in people, but with time they may overcome this feeling and get back to normal life. Therefore, the loss of a loved one is somewhere not considered a mental health issue. However, some people have a long-lasting emotional impact of losing their close ones which affects their emotional health and causes mental health disorders.

What Are the Various Mental Health Disorders that Are Not Normal With Aging?

Mental health conditions that are not normal and need medical help are as follows:

1. Depression: This condition is often misunderstood as tiredness and therefore taken for granted for having a negative phase in life or a bad day in general. Also, in some cases, while aging, depression is often accompanied by other medical illnesses, and therefore it may go undiagnosed and untreated. A person having depression often shows severe and constant episodes of symptoms like anxiousness, hopelessness, a feeling of being worthless, constant fatigue, low energy, loss of appetite, lack of interest, and irritability. Therefore, a person experiencing these mental health issues while aging must consult the doctor for proper diagnosis and treatment if their day-to-day life is getting affected.

2. Dementia: This mental health condition gradually deteriorates the memory, thinking, and behavior of a person and thus affects their daily functioning. Dementia is not a normal disorder that can occur due to aging, it mainly occurs in old age and occurs due to various other mental disorders or diseases, such as

• Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disease that causes dementia and also leads to cognitive impairment over time.

• Parkinson’s disease can also cause dementia in its advanced and severe stages.

• Stroke or blood pressure disease can also lead to dementia.

• In addition, Huntington’s disease, a genetic disorder also causes dementia and leads to altered personality, mental dysfunction, movement disturbance, and psychosis.

• Also, a viral infection called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease leads to progressive and rapid dementia in older age.

A doctor should not misdiagnose dementia symptoms with other health diseases or side effects of various medications. There are various such medical issues or diseases that often mimic the symptoms of dementia and thus impact the memory, thinking, perception, and emotions of a person.

3. Anxiety Disorders: Anxiety can occur in any individual at any life stage due to various reasons. The condition is not considered normal if it affects the normal functioning of a person and thus ruins their quality of life. Anxiety disorders mainly include some specific phobias or generalized anxiety issues in a person. It can be due to post-traumatic stress disorders, social phobias, and panic disorders. The specific sign of an anxiety disorder is constant worry and restlessness about various life and day-to-day events which are often related to financial affairs, or health problems.

Conclusion

Aging is a process of various transitions in life, physical health issues, and emotional well-being that can cause mental health problems while facing these challenges in life. People who have long-term experience in dealing with mental health disorders keep struggling with this throughout the aging process, and some may have an improvement in their symptoms while aging. However, in some cases, mental health problems can get worse and cause serious mental health diseases that are incurable. Therefore, people should take care of their mental well-being along with physical health while aging and must consult the doctor if any signs of depression, dementia, and other mental health disorders are witnessed.