Transcript Popular Myths PowerPoint

By: Milani Pickering
Older and Sadder
 The assumption that elderly people are more
 Depressed
 Forgetful
 Lonely
 Cantankerous
What is Depression
 “The degrees of suffering and disability associated
with depression are comparable to those in most
chronic medical conditions. Fortunately, early
identification and proper treatment significantly
decrease the negative impact of depression in most
patients” (physicians).
 is a common psychiatric disorder in children,
adolescents, adults, and the elderly.
Media
 Many TV shows, movies and talk shows create the image
that older people are mean and depressed
 The Proud Family (cartoon of a depressed old cranky lady)
 The Notebook (The main woman in the movie develops
Alzheimer and doesn’t remember anything, becomes
depressed)
 The Christmas Carole (Old man that hates Christmas and
lives alone, not wanting to socialize and depressed about life)

Societies ideology and language of elders

“50 years old top of the hill, +50 toppling down hill”
Why?
 There could be many reasons that people could have
this ideology
 Loneliness/sadness
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Since a number of elders loose their loved ones, they are
alone, but not necessarily lonely, though others could see
differently
Some people might see loneliness as sadness
the media puts elders in the role of the helpless and sad
Society places elder people in the fragile state
Some medicine taken by the elderly could cause them to
become sad
Why cont.
 Depression
 Most people “have been experiencing episodes of the illness
during most of their lives”

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there seems to be more depressed elder people because they go
untreated for reasons that people mistake depression symptoms for
dementia symptoms
People see that the population of depress elderly is higher because
some people don’t treat them for their depression
 Forgetfulness
 That is the programed response to stereotype elders as,
forgetful
 “When I was young I was called a rugged individualist. When
I was in my fifties I was considered eccentric. Here I am doing
and saying the same things I did then and I'm labeled senile.”
--- George Burns
Why Is It a Myth
 The older you are doesn’t mean the more depressed you get
 “Population surveys states that the highest level of depression
is the people between 25-45” (Scientific America)


Elders just get the blame because they have other medical problems
that classify them as being depressed when the true fact is they are
not
Studies have shown that healthy elders are mostly not depressed
 “the oldest group scored highest only on lack of well-being.
Somatic symptoms of depression were not elevated. Young adults
scored highest on depressed mood. Adults who are now old were
not generally characterized by elevated self-reports of depressive
symptoms; however, on items asking whether the respondent has
a hopeful outlook” (PsycNet).
 Depression can be spurred by a tragic event, no matter
what age
Cont.
 “In one study of 28,000 Americans, a third of 88-year-olds
reported being “very happy,” and the happiest individuals
surveyed were the oldest” (Scientific America)
 Most of the time the elderly isn’t depressed on their own, it is either
by their medication or some medical illness such as a stroke, that
causes them to seem “out of it”

Not only adults and elderly people have depression
Studies have shown that 81% of children tested positive of anxiety
and depressive symptoms

Children now a days in this society experience so much pressure from
their parents and friends that it is hard not to have high anxiety and
some depressed feelings
in some instances it is even more prominent for children to seem
depressed, if they are raise by an authoritarian child-rearing style
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Giving them high expectations, no room for error and no time to
socialize with others
Relativity to Human Growth and
Development
 The reason why elders are seen as forgetful or depressed is some times
because of medical problems
 Dementia: where they start to lose their memory because, “Results of a
study of 5 patients with presumed sporadic Alzheimer's disease and senile
dementia of the Alzheimer's type show that neurons of the nucleus basalis
of Meynert underwent a profound and selective degeneration in these
patients and provided a pathological substrate of the cholinergic deficiency
in their brains” (PsycNet).
 children have an active pruning process and synapses connection that allows
them to collect new information and stimulate the child’s brain, while elders
synapse are weakly connecting.
 Like the study they did on infants the PET and fMRI, they also did on the
elderly
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By looking at their brain-wave patterns they found that older adult have
experienced the lose of white brain matter, hindering the function of
connecting synapes
Work Cited
 Duckworth, Ken. “Depression in Older Peoples Fact Sheet.” Mental Illnesses. Oct. 2009.
10 Oct.2012.
<http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&template=/ContentMa
nagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=7515>.
 Gatz, Margaret; Hurwicz, “Are old people more depressed? Cross-sectional data on
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale factors.”, Margo-Lea
Psychology and Aging, Vol 5(2), Jun 1990, 10 Oct. 2012. 284-290.
 Klein, Daniel. “Age of onset in chronic major depression: relation to demographic and
clinical variables, family history, and treatment response.” SciVerse. Oct. 1999. 10
Oct. 2012.
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032799000208>.
 Lilien, Scott. “Busting Big Myths in Popular Psychology [Preview] .” Scientific America.
25 Feb. 2012. 10 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=busting-bigmyths&page=5>.
 Peter J. “Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia: Loss of neurons in the basal forebrain.”
et al Science, Vol 215(4537), Mar 1982, 1237-1239.
 “Screening for Depression Across the Lifespan: A Review of Measures for Use in Primary
Care Settings.” American Family Physician. 15 Sept. 2002. 10
Oct. 2012.
<http://www.aafp.org/afp/2002/0915/p1001.html