on Mar 16th, 2006The Bleak House of Depression
Hey, brother, can you spare a good thought. For those who grew up during the depression, time has come full circle. Now into old age, a second depression may hit, the kind that strikes the mind and can leave you feeling helpless and lonely.
If you’re Woody Allen, you might visit a psychiatrist to understand the problem. Old age complicates things, though, because time is running out, so the optimism that comes from knowing you can change the future is less likely. Reality is closing in fast on the fact that there’s a limit to life and you’re butting up against it.
Now comes word that antidepressants may help alleviate the anxiety. Talking out the problem may work for some, but words only go so far when you’re barely breathing on an oxygen tank. Standing in line during the depression for a bowl of soup has now been replaced by waiting in line at the pharmacy for your antidepressants.
While you’re waiting in line, though, please do us a favor: put away your copy of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House.
Antidepressants work better than psychotherapy in preventing relapses in elderly men and women who have recovered from depression, a new study suggests.
The government-financed study, published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that a combination of drugs and therapy was the best way to restore well-being in seriously depressed patients 70 and older. Once the patients had recovered, however, drug treatment was more effective over the next two years than once-a-month psychotherapy.
For Elderly, Antidepressants May Trump Psychotherapy
By BENEDICT CAREY
New York Times, March 16, 2006