SENIOR LIVING: Depression—So Tough It Hurts

SENIOR LIVING= : Suffering in Silence—Depression in Elderly Men

By FRANK KENN= EY Director, Grant County Senior Services

“It happened all of a sudden,” says Alberto Trujillo, a 75 year-old retired mechanic from Clint, Texas. “I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t th= ink, write, or drive. I didn’= ;t go out of the house. I stayed aw= ay from church.” His wife,= Mary, had him hospitalized, according to an AARP article in Segunda Juventud by I= rene Levine, titled “A Culture of Silence.”

“Henry T.’s life was never easy—he&#= 8217;d always had trouble getting close to people, and he depended on alcohol to t= ake the edge off his loneliness. Throughout middle age, Henry endured bouts of the blues, though he always bounced back after a few months.&nb= sp; Following retirement from his job as a graphic designer, however, He= nry, now 68, experienced his worst depression ever. In the dead of one New York State winter, he stopped going out, stopped shaving, stopped washing. Many nights he couldn’t sleep. His appetite vanished,= and he shed 25 pounds,” according to Jim Thornton in his article “So Tough It Hurts” that appeared in the AARP Magazine, in= May June 2006.

Mr. Thornton states that “Up to 10 percent of pa= tients over 50 seen in primary care settings suffer major depression like Henry’s. If you add in dysthymia—a less severe form of chronic low mood—this figure ju= mps to 20 percent. It’s probable that 10 million or more older Americans are endu= ring this torment, and even though no one has an exact count, even the most conservative estimates hint at an epidemic.”

Though depression is a disease that afflicts both gend= ers, a growing number of researchers believe men bear u= nique burdens that make it much harder for them to get treatment. For one thing, women suffering the disease tend to acknowledge their pain and seek help. Men—particularly older ones-don’t.

“It’s not considered unwomanly to be emoti= onal and vulnerable, but a real man would never be so ‘weak’ as to l= et his emotions get the best of him,” says author Terrence Real, “= There’s’ a lot of shame involved, and this sets up what I call compound depression—a man gets depressed about being depressed.”

Even worse: their suffering is largely unnecessary. New Treatments for late-life depre= ssion can restore hope and even joy to most patients. “Study after study shows tha= t 90 percent of men who receive help get significant relief,” says Real. “Unfortunately, between 60-80 percent of depressed men never g= et the treatment they need.”

Depression strikes 6 million men each year, according = to the National Institute of Mental Health. This medical condition affects a person’s body, mood, and thoughts. Left untreated, it = strips the joy out of life. It can e= ven turn fatal: about 7 percent of depressed men commit suicide.

Although the causes of depression are not completely understood, professionals agree that this is a “no-fault” illne= ss that stems from the interplay of genetics and environment rather than from a character flaw. But, despite = new studies, many people still consider depression a weakness.

Rodolfo Palma-Lulion, a recent victim of depression, comments that especially among Hispanics, he encountered what he calls a “culture of silence” that must change so men can feel comfortab= le asking for help. “Being Latino makes it different,” he says.= “The idea of what it is to be a man is different from the domi= nant Caucasian society. Latino men don’t have ‘depression.’= They get angry and self-medicate with alcohol; it’s part of being a man.”

Palma-Lulion has already begun shattering the silence.= “I’m starting to reali= ze that there was depression throughout my family history,” he says. “Seeing my experience with d= epression has helped change my dad’s perception of the disease.”

On a broader scale, depression is a serious illness affecting 15 out of every 100 adults over age 65 in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control ra= te depression as one of the three diseases with the most dramatic impact on our economy- together with cancer and heart disease.

As mentioned earlier, although depression can strike a= t any time of life, it hits older men with a particular vengeance. According to M= r. Thornton, some major events that can trigger the disease are:

Still, diagnosing the disease—especially in olde= r men- can be tricky Even if men are willing to discuss their feelings with a doct= or, they may lack the vocabulary. “they’ll just say they feel lousy—they’re not sleeping well, food doesn’t taste right, they’re not having any fun, they can’t concentrate,” says Barry Lebowitz, Ph.D., deputy director of the Stein institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego. “They end up end= orsing every single symptom of depression except for one, which is sadness. In older guys, we now know depress= ion often exists strictly in bodily perceptions.” For some men, the experience of depression is not about feeling bad so much as about losing the capacity to feel at all.

Returning to Henry T.’s story, we discover that = he eventually received a PET scan and began a two pronged strategy prescribed = by his doctor that involved antidepressant medication and a 16 week course of interpersonal therapy.

“For two years,” says Henry today, “= I was so depressed and afraid that I could barely leave my house. Now, my true personality is back.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> I go out all the time, and I’= ;m even considering starting a new career.&nb= sp; My advice to other depressed men is to go to a doctor, explain your problem, and get on the right track to treatment. No matter how bad you think you ha= ve it, there = is always reason for hope.”

If the above stories do not motivate someone who suspe= cts he/she is depressed to seek professional help, they should be aware of two devastating potential consequences in not seeking help--suicide and brain damage leading to dementia.

In our next column on the first Tuesday next month, we= will explore both these horrific consequences of untreated depression.

If you have any questions or comments concerning this article, contact this writer at 505-388-2523 or rsvpgrant@zianet.com.