Confronting Reality: Goodbye to Elderly Depression

Imagine being on a never-ending quest for happiness, causing your life-long goals and ambitions to turn astray. What if somewhere in your quest for happiness, you began to feel vulnerable, helpless, or sad? You constantly wonder why nobody else seems to feel the agonizing feeling of being abandoned by loved ones, the reality of being trapped in an isolated state with no one to comfort your pain, sorrow, and misery? Some would explain that you might feel that everything was dark, fearing you were living in a nightmare. Others would describe the feeling of being locked inside your head, battling for sanity. To you, the world looks bleak and your thoughts reflect that of hopelessness and helplessness. You constantly have negative and self-critical thoughts; they will never leave. Sometimes, not knowing your own value, you feel worthless and unlovable. The terrifying thought of being sent to the mental hospital runs like crazy through your head every day. What would they think and say of me? Plus, I'm not crazy, why would I need to go there anyways?

These are typical emotions that seniors experience. Sadly, depression affects approximately 6 million people aged 65 and up; too few of these people receive proper treatment. In today's society, pharmaceutical companies are doing everything they can to satisfy their obsession with money, causing physicians' relationship with their elderly patients to change significantly. Since physicians are giving in to the bribes of pharmaceutical companies, patients should not trust their doctor this day and age. Doctors are influenced a bit too much from these companies and the reason for this influence is simply for profit. Due to denial and resistance in taking medication to cure depression, they are under medicated for this mental health condition. Why is that that companies are so insistent in advertising all other medications to the elderly, but are refusing to advertise medication to treat their depression?