Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Corso di laurea in infermieristica - Sede di Modena

Abstract

Depression in the elderly is a very common disorder, but not always diagnosed as it is believed that is a normal condition of old age. Unfortunatly, this belief leads many people, including doctors, to underestimate this disorder thus leaving the old man alone without a helping hand. Moreover, the presence of many disease of which they frequently suffer from, leads doctors and nurses, but also family members, to deal with more than neglecting physical illness so the psychic. Often old people,even knowing that they need help, as depressed, avoid voluntary to talk to a doctor. For this reason it is important to make a careful initial assessment of the patient, thanks to the use of specific assessment scales, which though they can not be considered real investigative tools but are very useful to support the clinical suspicion. Another element that can lead to suspect that a patient suffers from depression is the presence of risk factors mainly represented by so-called "losses" such as retiremet, loss of social role and mourning. It's also important to take account of the symptoms, this is very different and can be divided into three categories: vegetative symptoms, cognitive and psycho-somatic; depressed patients also show the so-called triad of Beck: negative view of the world, of themselves and of the future. The treatment of depression in the elderly uses both pharmacological interventions and psychosocial interventions, although the support of his family plays a very important role.  As for the nurse, in the care of the depression, this assumes a very important role both for detecting and the signaling of depressive illness, and subsequently in the assistance, carried out throgh the nursing diagnoses. The objectives and planned actions must always be tailored to the patient's needs.