Why Outpatient Depression Care Is Smart For Your Grieving Elderly Parent
Posted on: 21 October 2018
As parents age and start suffering from health issues, there is a strong chance that a spouse will significantly outlive their lifelong partner. Unfortunately, this situation can cause severe clinical depression that may shorten a senior's life. Thankfully, outpatient care may help manage this problem.
Depression Often Strikes The Elderly
Elderly individuals are more prone to depression for a variety of reasons. Excessive physical pain, feelings of inadequacy, slipping mobility, and the death of loved ones often trigger these symptoms. The death of a spouse – someone who they once thought of as their best friend – can also make a senior very, very depressed.
Depression in the elderly is often more serious than it is in youth. It may rob them of the will to live, make it more difficult for them to take care of themselves, or cause other unpredictable problems. Therefore, you need to know how to spot if your loved one is truly depressed.
Symptoms Your Loved One Is Depressed
After the death of a spouse, your parent may be trying to deny the fact that they are depressed. That's because they may not want to burden you with their emotions. However, depression is likely to strike many and may have serious symptoms like:
- Excessive sleep/inability to sleep
- Sudden crying jags
- Bursts of anger
- Talking of past loved ones
- Refusing to go out anymore
These issues can affect just about anybody but are more likely with seniors who have just experienced a serious trauma. As a result, it is critical to get them help right away with treatment methods such as outpatient clinical depression treatment.
How Outpatient Care Can Help
Outpatient depression care allows a senior to come to the clinic when they are depressed and talk to a counselor. They don't have to stay at the center during this time, which allows them to visit friends and others. This benefit is huge for a senior who is otherwise active.
However, they will be put into groups with individuals in similar emotional situations and provided with loving and caring support. Just as importantly, they can meet new friends, fight through their depression, and find new hope and joy in life.
So if your parent has just lost a spouse and is struggling to fight depression, seriously consider checking them into an outpatient depression clinic like Shore TMS. These care centers will provide a high-quality of treatment that will help your parent recover.
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