Healthy Aging Current Topics in Healthy Aging

Aging Does Not Have to Be Depressing

Summary & Participants

Doctors say depression is not a normal part of aging, even though they see it in their patients quite often.

Medically Reviewed On: August 01, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Doctors say depression is not a normal part of aging, even though they see it in their patients quite often.

S. Brent Ridge, MD: You can have weight loss or weight gain. You can have an increase in appetite or a decrease in appetite, change in your sleep patterns, change in your desire to go out and try new things. I think it's probably the most common diagnosis that I make. If you look at statistics, about 2 in 10 people over the age of 65 will manifest some symptoms of depression.

ANNOUNCER: While anyone of any age can have bad days, clinical depression is typically when you have extended periods of almost nothing but bad days.

S. Brent Ridge, MD: Social isolation, chronic pain or other chronic medical conditions, loss of family, loss of loved ones. All of those things can contribute to a person's depression.

Kristine, Patient: I had lost interest in all of the old things that I used to really like - because you don't feel good about yourself, you don't have the tendency to want to interact and socialize as much.

S. Brent Ridge, MD: There are some wonderful medications out now that did not exist a decade ago that can help relieve some of the symptoms of depression, but nothing is going to be better than increasing social activity, increasing physical activity and getting these patients more involved in the world around them.

ANNOUNCER: Depression is one of the most successfully treated mental illnesses - according to the geriatric mental health foundation, more than 80 percent of those suffering from depression recover and return to their normal lives once properly diagnosed and treated.

Kristine, Patient: I, all of a sudden, became Martha Stewart, you know, I wanted to cook, I wanted to decorate, I wanted to, you know, do all the fun -- the fun things that -- that people should feel good about doing and it's -- it's made an amazing difference.

Thanks for joining us on today's Once Daily.