Too Little Mental Health Care for Boomers
The Denver Post
WASHINGTON — Getting older doesn't just
mean a risk for physical ailments like heart disease and bum knees: A
new report finds as many as 1 in 5 seniors has a mental health or
substance abuse problem.
And as the population rapidly ages over
the next two decades, millions of baby boomers may have a hard time
finding care and services for mental health problems such as depression —
because the nation is woefully lacking in doctors, nurses and other
health workers trained for their special needs, the Institute of
Medicine said Tuesday.
Instead, the country is focused mostly on preparing for the physical health needs of what's been called the silver tsunami.
"The
burden of mental illness and substance abuse disorders in older adults
in the United States borders on a crisis," wrote Dr. Dan Blazer of Duke
University, who chaired the Institute of Medicine panel that
investigated the issue. "Yet this crisis is largely hidden from the
public and many of those who develop policy and programs to care for
older people."
Already, at least 5.6 million to 8 million
Americans age 65 and older have a mental health condition or substance
abuse disorder, the report found — calling that a conservative estimate
that doesn't include a number of disorders. Depressive disorders and
psychiatric symptoms related to dementia are the most common.
While
the panel couldn't make precise projections, those numbers are sure to
grow as the number of seniors nearly doubles by 2030, said report
co-author Dr. Peter Rabins, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University.
How much substance abuse treatment for seniors will be needed is a
particular question, as rates of illegal drug use are higher in boomers
currently in their 50s than in previous generations.
Merely
getting older doesn't make mental health problems more likely to occur,
Rabins said, noting that middle age is the most common time for onset of
depression.
But when mental health problems do occur in older
adults, the report found that they're too often overlooked and tend to
be more complex because physical health problems can mask or distract
from mental health needs.
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