Though there are many effective treatments for elderly depression, complicated inner issues can prevent people from getting help.
To this day, many people struggle with the stigma associated with depression, whether the stigma is imposed by society or by themselves.
Psychological, social and spiritual stress (think of family caregiving) can bring out symptoms of biological illnesses, whether its shingles, migraine headaches, frequent colds, diarrhea, acne, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety or depression. Many psychotherapists encourage people to solve their problems on all levels: biological (if necessary), psychological, social, and spiritual (when the patient is spiritually inclined.)
Most people wouldn't dream of treating a skin condition or heart disease with psychological, social or spiritual treatment alone. More importantly, people usually don't blame themselves for those problems the way they blame themselves for depression. Yet it is scientifically proven beyond doubt that depression is, among other things, a biological illness. Self-blame, feelings of failure and inappropriate guilt are symptoms of depression. Could a depressed person's self-blame be their depression talking? A contributing factor to depression is a tendency for self-blame. Self-blame could certainly be fueling further depression, even as the person is trying to heal.
As a human race we have not yet learned exactly how to heal our bodies with our minds, though advances are being made. Until then, medicine is often helpful and sometimes necessary to treat bio-psycho-social illness like depression.
Still, all the logic in the world doesn't matter when it comes to core beliefs. Caring for self or others who are depressed is a complicated matter. Listening to people's beliefs about their depression may be as important as, or even more important than, expressing one's concern and offering "the facts."
