According to the World Health Organization (WHO), among the ten diseases that burden mankind the most, 3rd place was depression. It has even been predicted that by 2030 this depression will be number one. Depression called ‘cold of the heart’, and 4 out of 10 people with this depression are elderly. Together with Professor Kim Hee-cheol of Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital, we investigated why depression in the elderly occurs, what symptoms it has, and how to overcome it.
[김혜숙 MC]
Depression in old age was introduced as pseudo-dementia, but is this different from the dementia we are familiar with? If depression persists in old age, is there a risk of dementia?
[김희철 교수]
We have used the term pseudo-dementia a lot in the past. So, when we suffer from depression, we call this pseudo-dementia, because in old age depression, symptoms similar to dementia appear, such as poor memory or concentration, rather than various depressive symptoms. It also improves memory and often improves concentration.
So, when depression is treated, dementia symptoms usually get better, but in some cases, if this depression is left untreated, as time goes by, practically various changes occur in the brain, leading to real dementia.
So, when you have depression, especially when you have depression in old age, it is important to treat it early and manage it well, and if not treated properly, it can progress to dementia.
In fact, some studies have reported that people with depression in old age are two to three times more likely to develop dementia than those who do not have depression when compared to people who do not have depression in later life. So, depression in old age may be a precursor to dementia or a risk factor.
[이동훈 MC]
There seems to be a difference in the factors with various genders, but if you think about the bereavement as the cause, I think that women may have a little more depression in the elderly. How is it overall?
[김희철 교수]
Depression in old age is also more prevalent in women. It is known that it is about twice as high, and it is found that depression is usually higher in women, not only among older people but also among younger people. Especially for older people, women live longer on average than men. So, there will be a lot more older people. So it is natural that depression naturally increases.
In addition, women are less socially active than men and suffer from various psychological and social stresses caused by various housework tasks, such as spending most of their time at home, taking care of their parents-in-law while doing housework, and then raising children. Because there are many other factors, this also has an effect, and another thing is that when women enter menopause, the secretion of female hormones rapidly decreases, so these physiological changes also occur, and these complex causes cause more depression in women. It is known for being high.
[이동훈 MC]
This is because geriatric depression shows different characteristics from depression in general adults. I think it would be good to take a look at what kind of behaviors our parents and elders should consider as a signal.
[김희철 교수]
Depression in old age is common, but with proper treatment, it can be sufficiently treated. However, in old age, expression of depression and sadness appears considerably less.
This can have several effects, especially in Eastern Confucian culture like Korea, expressing one’s feelings is rude to something. .
So, because we do not express depression, if it keeps accumulating and accumulating, eventually the balance in our body is broken, and as a result, other symptoms appear. What it is, it manifests as a physical symptom. So, complaints about physical diseases are increasing, and these phenomena appear.
Another characteristic is that cognitive impairment such as memory loss due to depression will often appear in old age, and another characteristic is that people with usually very calm personalities suddenly become very sensitive one day, become irritable, or anxious. , the so-called neurotic symptoms? If these so-called neurosis symptoms appear suddenly, or in such cases, we can suspect depression in old age.