Depression in the senior citizen years

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Everyone gets sad and melancholy at some point in their lives. Maybe it’s a parent who has passed away. Or perhaps a relationship ending happens to everybody. Most folks usually move on and recover. Depression is a little different. It’s a feeling that can come out of nowhere and stay with you. This often happens to older folks who find it challenging to deal with the senior citizen years, isolation, and then deal with depression.

 

Depression is a disorder that isn’t always accepted by people who don’t understand what it means to be depressed. Today, the public is more understanding than in years past. They considered that depression was just a bad attitude or a weakness.  In years past, some tried to self-medicate by drinking, which made it worse. Alcohol is a depressant.

 

In my own case, I felt something was not quite right in high school. I came from a typical family. I had friends, and most of the time, things appeared all right. But I was always dealing with the feeling that things weren’t okay, and I didn’t know what to do.

 

After high school, I started my college years. My first year was lonely, probably due to my commute to college. I talked my parents into letting me live at college in a dorm. Two days before I was to move in when, my father passed away. This sent me into a downward spiral. After a couple of months, I moved back home. I saw a local Psychiatrist who prescribed medication and hypnosis. In 1977, there weren’t any antidepressants, so I was given pills that either knocked me out or kept me up forever. The hypnosis wasn’t practical either.

 

After a few years post-college, I moved to Atlanta to find work. I saw more than that. I got married, but the depression was lingering around inside my head. After abruptly quitting my job, I sought help from a local healthcare office. Prozac, at that time, was relatively new. It seemed to help. This was in 1989. I have been on antidepressants from then to the present day. I know there are side effects, but I feel it's helped. It's not a cure but a helping hand. I’m not endorsing antidepressants, but in my case, they have helped.

 

I’ve had counseling on and off over the years as well. It’s never too late to ask for help with depression.

 

Leave a comment if you want to.

Best

David

 

 

 

 

 

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