Mental Health
Stress and Memory
Stress has been proven to have a significant effect on the brain. Sufferers of chronic stress are also victims of lack of concentration, and may become inefficient and accident-prone both at home and on-the-job. Patients who suffer from chronic stress also tend to look for relief through alcohol or drug abuse, overeating, and spending time in activities that require no concentration. Children with chronic stress were found to have psychological problems that hindered their capacity to learn.
Short Term
Stress can also affect short-term memory. Memory loss does come with increased age but studies also prove that stress can affect memory, especially verbal memory. In a study done in 2000, test subjects were given a placebo or a cortisone pill. Cortisone is a major stress hormone.
Depression Symptoms in the Elderly
Depression is a disease that affects they young and the elderly. It manifests itself in similar ways in both of these ages groups but different in some very important ways for those who are elderly. These differences can contribute to the fact that 35 million elderly are suffering from depression with as many as 70% of them suffering unnoticed chose to end their lives even though they saw a medical doctor within 30 days of having done so. How many other people came into contact with them during those 30 days and their depression escaped their attention too? Understanding how depression differs in the elderly can make recognizing it much easier.
Elderly at Risk for Depression
Just who are the individuals who are elderly and at the highest risk for depression? What can they do to overcome their risk factors for depression?
One category of individuals at risk for elderly depression is women over 65. There is not much they can do about being female or being over 65; so for them the risk cannot be minimized. They can however understand what other factors may put them at risk for depression and try to avoid or minimize those factors.
Other factors that may put the elderly at risk for depression are:
- * Biological factors including hormonal changes as those that occur during menopause and genetic factors such as having a family member who has suffered from depression.
Celexa for Elderly Depression
Celexa oral is an antidepressant that does not make many headlines. It is rarely used in the treatment of elderly depression because many a geriatric patient has preexisting medical conditions that discourage its use. These conditions are by and large related to liver and stomach ailments, any kinds of kidney problems, and also a diagnoses if manic depression.
Celexa is known also as Citalopram and it falls into the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor class of antidepressants. As such, it is a powerful tool that a healthy elderly patient may utilize to once again reestablish a balance of neurotransmitters in the brain. In so doing, one of the first things she or he may notice is a resurgence of the energy levels, enabling the patient to once again get out of the house and do the things she or he loved to do prior to falling victim to the depression.
Other Uses
Dangerous Personality Disorders
There are many types of personality disorders, some of which can lead to dangerous and deadly behavior if not closely watched. This article will give you a brief understanding of each of the dangerous personality disorders and how they can become so dangerous. In fact, studies have shown that the majority of homicides reported in the United States result from individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Histrionic Personality Disorder, OCD, and others with psychopathic, sociopathic, or schizophrenic tendencies.
