Suicide Prevention and Older Adults (Video 3:10)

Older adults kill themselves intentionally over 50% more than young people do in America. Each year more than 6,300 older adults take their own lives. Unfortunately, suicide among the elderly continues to lack the intense prevention and research focus that it should receive. 

Older white men have been particularly at-risk for suicide for the past half century. They are eight times more likely to kill themselves than are women of the same age group. They have almost twice the rate of all other groups of elderly men. This situation continues to escalate with the increase of millions of baby boomers (born 1946-1964) reaching senior status. The continued rise in elderly male suicides has the potential for creating a national crisis in geriatric mental health if more prevention strategies are not used.

In this video, Dr. Yeates Conwell, Director, Geriatric Psychiatry Program Director, Center for Study and Prevention of Suicide, University of Rochester Medical Center talks about the four Ds that contribute to suicide risk in older adults.

 

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Depression, Suicide in the Elderly (Video 2:52 mins.)

Discussions about suicide usually don’t focus on the elderly, even though their rates of suicide are proportionately high. Depression, which is too often ignored and considered part of aging, often accompanies suicidal tendencies. The following are symptoms of depression which may be helped through diagnosis ruling out medications, counseling, and drug therapy:

1)   Persistent Sadness

2)   Feelings of Worthlessness

3)   Tearfulness

4)   Pacing and Fidgeting

5)   Excessive Worry

A study at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee focused on risk factors for elderly suicide. An analysis in Caucasians found that “compared to married individuals, those widowed, divorced, or never married had a 2.5 to nearly 5-fold increase in risk of suicide death. Males aged 65-74 had almost a 7-fold increased risk compared to females of that age, and the risk increased for males as they aged, compared to females 65-74 years old.” Being single, male, and a male advancing in age are suicide risk factors. The most common method of suicide was firearm use (66.9%).

Knowing risk factors for elderly suicide can assist healthcare workers, caregivers, and others in recognizing early signs and providing approporiate intervention. You can read more here about the Wisconsin research.

This "NBC New York Nightly News" video titled “Segment on Elderly Depression”  highlights the relationship between elderly depression and suicide.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

"Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes”

“Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog”