Older Adults At High Risk For Mental Health Issues

Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : January 28, 2022

People are growing older and older but since they are growing older their body is becoming weaker and they have a lot of chances to go through a lot of disease or health issues. Some of the health issues or diseases that happen in older age are hearing loss, cataracts, back and neck pain, pulmonary disease, diabetes, depression, dementia, etc. 

Older Adults At High Risk For Mental Health Issues

Older people also have a high risk of getting mental health issues. Some of the mental health issues that can happen to an older adult are isolation, affective and anxiety disorders, dementia, and psychosis. Some can also suffer from sleep and behavioral disorders, confusion, and many more.

Older Adults At High Risk For Mental Health Issues

 They can experience a more stressful life and that’s very common in today’s life. But to older people, a little bit of stress can cause different kinds of mental health issues.

There are many mental health issues that can happen to any older adult but some of the common mental health issues are:

  • Isolation: Isolation isn’t a kind of disease but it can become a disease. If any person is not sharing their thoughts or anything and they are keeping that with themselves then that can cause stress and pressure in mind. Similar happens to old adults, they barely have someone to talk and share about anything so they always have to keep their thoughts to themselves. This may cause certain kinds of mental health issues.
  • Affective and Anxiety Disorders: Affective disorders is a kind of disease in which it affects how you think and feel. It may include an irritable mood or dejected mood, which may cause disturbance in sleep and also have a feeling of guilt. There are many types of affective disorder like: major depression, bipolar disorder, dysthymia and mood disorders. Some of the common types are: depression and bipolar disorder (it is a kind of disorder in which a person has mood swings and is also high in emotions).

Anxiety disorder is a kind of disease in which a person may go through a certain kind of fear and also go through different kinds of panic attacks or post-traumatic stress disorder. 

  • Dementia: Dementia is a kind of disease or a disorder in which a person suffers from memory loss or memory disorder, personality changes and also impaired reasoning. Those people who are suffering from dementia cannot control their emotions and personalities can also change from time to time.

You can get to know that you’re suffering from dementia if you are having or facing difficulty with everyday tasks if you are repeating one task again and again if there is a certain kind of problem while you are communicating when your behavior changes and are causing trouble to someone else and one the most important thing is in this your personality changes.

  • Psychosis: Psychotic disorder is one of the severe mental disorders as it causes abnormal thinking and perceptions. Those people who go through with psychosis lose touch with reality. Main symptoms to check whether you are going through psychosis are: delusion and hallucinations. 

 People who are older adults have a higher risk for mental health due to their body being weak and have a lot of thoughts and thinking going on in their mind which they don’t speak to someone and can cause a lot of stress in their mind which would lead to different kinds of mental health issues. Leaving above those common mental diseases or illnesses there are many more different kinds of mental illness that can happen when you are aging. So, you should always take care of yourself by sharing what you are thinking and by not taking a lot of stress or pressure on your mind.


Nikki Attkisson

With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.

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