Many older adults won’t treat their depression: Study

New York, Nov 17 : Nearly two-third (61 per cent) of the people in the US aged 65 or more, who have concerns about having depression, will not seek treatment, said researchers, including one of Indian-origin.
A new nationwide poll, the GeneSight Mental Health Monitor, shows that 33 per cent seniors who are concerned they might be suffering from depression believe they can ‘snap out’ of it on their own.
“I have found older adults have a very difficult time admitting that they have depression. When they do acknowledge it, they are still reluctant to start treatment for a wide variety of reasons,” said study author Parikshit Deshmukh, CEO, Balanced Wellbeing LLC in the US.
Balanced Wellbeing LLC provides psychiatric and psychotherapy services to nursing and assisted living facilities.
According to the survey, 61 per cent of the respondents who are concerned they might have depression would not treat it because “my issues aren’t that bad”.
About four in 10 (39 per cent) of these think that they can manage depression without a doctor’s help.