Week 12 Flashcards
what percentage of adults over 60 suffer from mental health disorders?
15%
What are the common mental health issues for older people?
- illness
- grief and loss
- financial stress
- changing living arrangements
- increasing social isolation
how are suicide rates changing in older generations?
increaseing, especially in men over 85
what percentage of older ppl experiecne depression and anxiety?
10 - 15% - Depression (over 50% for people in aged care)
10% - anxiety
What are risk factors for old people and mental health?
- health issues
- chronic pain
side effects from meds - losses
- social isolation
- significant change in living arrangments
- admission to hospital
- anniversaries
What are some signs and symptoms of depression in older populations?
An older person may be depressed if, for more than two
weeks, he or she has felt sad, down or miserable most of
the time or has lost interest or pleasure in most of his or
her usual activities, and has also experienced several of thesigns and symptoms across at least three of the categories below:
- behaviours
- slowing down or restleness
- neglect of self care
- withdrawing from family and friends
- decline in day to day function
- confused worried and agitated
- inability to find pleasure
- unmotivated
behaving out of character
What specific symptoms of mental illness in elderly?
Feelings:
- sleeping more
- memory problems
- loss of apetitie
- sadness/irritability
- worthless
- physical symptoms
Thoughts: - indecisiveness - low self esteem persistent suicidal thoughts - negative comments
What is the rate of suicide in older people?
3x more in men over 85
higher than general population
What is the link between depression and dementia?
depression affects 1 in 5 people with dementia
when they occur at the same time, it’s hard to determine the diagnosis
What are the brain changes with aging?
structural, chemical and functional changes
- cell loss, synapse loss, brain atrophy
- loss of neural circuits
- cortical thinning
- decreased neurotransmitters
- decreased functional abilities
- sensory and motor impairments
What is dementia?
describes a syndrome with over 100 different diseases that exhibit impaired brain function
Alzheimers (50-75%) Vascular dementia (20-30%)
progressive and irreversible neuro-degeneration
What are the main causes of dementia?
alzheimers disease
cerebrovascular disease
lewy body disease
fronto-lobal dementia
How do you diagnose dementia?
if 2 or more cognitive functions are significantly impaired.
Hallmarked by the inability to carry out everyday activities as a consequence of diminished cognitive ability.
What is alzheimers disease?
affects 1 in 10 and accounts for 75% of dementia cases
- Plaques impair comms between nerve cells
What is lewy body disease?
caused by degeneration and death of nerve cells in the brain
- identified by abnormal spherical structures inside nerve cells
- Dificult to distinguish from parkinsons
What are the symptoms of lewy disease?
- dificulty concentrating and attention
- extreme confusion
- difficulties judging distanced, often resulting in falls
- visual hallucinations
what is the brakdown of childhood abuse in australia?
Primary - Emotional abuse - 48%
Followed by Neglect (24%)
Physical abuse (16%)
Sexual abuse (12%)
What are the types of childhood abuse?
- physical
- emotional
- sexual
- neglect
What are signs of emotional abuse in children?
- changes in behaviour
- lying and stealing
- destructive or violent behaviour
- rocking the body or sucking things
- being withdrawn or depressed
- agressive and constantly seeking attention
what are the red flags for paramedics when called to a child injury?
IMPORTANT!!!!
- story keeps changing
- brusiing and injury do not fit the mechanisms of story
- bruising on both sides of limb
- fractures of long bones
- clenliness and general appearance of child
- brusing in various stages of healing
- presence of various injuries in various stages of healing
- facial injuries in infants and pre-school children
- injuries inconsistent with childs age
- a lot of bruises in the same area of body
- bruises in shape of object
What are some red flags for paramedics when dealing with adults who may have abuse a child?
- different story to child
- says child has a lot of accidents
- cannot control anger and frustration
- talks about problems dealing with child
- talks about child as bad, different or the cause of problems
- doesn’t go to doctor right away
define elder abuse?
a single, or repeated act, oir lack of appropriate action, occuring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person.
What are some examples of elder abuse?
Physical abuse sexual abuse psychological abuse financial neglect
What are some behaviours displayed by abused elders?
- afraid of many/one person
- easily upset
- depressed or withdrawn
- lack of interest
- changing sleep patterns
- changing eating habits
- thoughts of suicide
- attacks of shaking, trembling
- rigid posture
- presenting as helpless
what is the prevalence of elder abuse?
4.6% in aust
What are the risk factors for elder abuse?
- carer stress
- dependency
- family conflict
- isolation
- psychological problems
- addictive behaviours
