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Everyone feels sad and down occasionally. When ageing, several events occur in your life which make you unhappy. We have to stop working and will probably make less money. We have to deal with physical complaints and are less mobile than before. Most likely, we have already experienced deaths of relatives and friends. Yet, not all elderly people feel depressed. Only one out of six suffers from depression symptoms. Moreover, only one out of thirty actually has to cope with depression.
How does it feel like to be depressed?
Feeling unhappy is not the only signal of depression, there are other signs which indicate depression as well:
• Feeling sad, down or miserable.
• Not being able to enjoy the things which used to be fun
• Less appetite
• Weight loss
• Inner restlessness which makes it hard to relax
• Worrying and feeling frightened very easily
• Avoiding people, feeling awkward when having people around
• Not sleeping as well as you used to. Generally, you wake up two hours earlier and cannot fall asleep anymore.
• Losing your self-confidence
• Feeling useless and thinking that you bore others
• Having concentration problems
• Tending to panic easily
• Decreasing sex drive
• Lingering constantly on things you have done in the past, which make you feel bad or guilty, and seeing them out of proportion.
• Having suicidal thoughts and wanting to end the misery you are in.
Specific problems of the aged
Physical symptoms and depression
Certain symptoms of physical diseases are the same as those of depression. Losing your appetite and having trouble sleeping, for example, are both symptoms which occur with thyroid gland problems and arthritis as well.
Sometimes, eldery people think that depression is simply part of the ageing process. Nothing is further from the truth. That is why everyone manifesting signs of depression needs to seek help, because a cure is certainly possible. Bach flowers and Bach flowers essences are the perfect example, since they are capable of bending negative emotions into their positive pole. |
