Clinical depression in the elderly is common. That doesn't mean it's normal. Late-life depression affects about 6 million Americans age 65 and older. But
only 10% receive treatment for depression. The likely reason is that the elderly often display symptoms of depression differently. Depression in the elderly is also frequently confused with the effects of multiple
illnesses and the medicines used to treat them.
Depression in the
elderly often increases their risk of cardiac diseases. Depression doubles an
elderly person's risk of cardiac diseases and increases their risk of death
from illness. At the same time, depression reduces an elderly person's ability
to rehabilitate. Studies of nursing home patients with physical illnesses have
shown that the presence of depression substantially increases the likelihood of
death from those illnesses. Depression also has been associated with increased
risk of death following a heart attack. For that reason, making sure that an elderly person you
are concerned about is evaluated and treated is important, even if the
depression is mild.
Traditional treatments
for depression include antidepressant medication and talk therapy. In one study of almost 3,000 patients, only
1/3 of them achieved remission from their depression after up to 14 weeks on
certain drugs.
In response to data like this, a new treatment for psychiatric
disorder like depression and anxiety is underway that uses real time scans to
show patients how their brains go awry—and how to fix the dysfunction,
according to a Wall Street Journal story.
The new approach uses neurofeedback, which directly
targets the brain dysfunction and emotional and cognitive processes that are
understood to underlie psychiatric disorders. It can be personalized to address
the issues in each patient’s brain.
Neurofeedback is direct training of brain
function, by which the brain learns to function more efficiently. The brain is
observed in action from moment to moment that allows medical professionals to
train the brain to act in more appropriate patterns. This is a gradual learning
process.
Neurofeedback is also called EEG
Biofeedback, because it is based on electrical brain activity, the
electroencephalogram, or EEG. Neurofeedback is training in self-regulation. It
is simply biofeedback applied to the brain directly. Self-regulation is a
necessary part of good brain function. Self-regulation training allows the
system (the central nervous system) to function better.
The advantage to biofeedback is that it eliminates
medication and no need for extensive therapy.
Patients are asked to recall memories or look at pictures
while their brains are scanned. Patients see visual representatives of their
brain activity almost in real time—often presented in the form of thermometer
or colored bar. Based on what their
brains are doing, patients are encouraged to enhance pleasant memories or
suppress unpleasant activities.
