Policy Brief Presentation on Selected Health Issue

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Depression with elderly in the United States

Introduction

Global health issues are eh various issues which are being experienced worldwide widely which are affecting the health of people or communities whereby they have been recognized globally as a threat to human life and thus there need measures to be set which would help on dealing with the issues. These issues tend to be very much diversified as they range for the disease, climatic changes, nutrition, violent activities, vaccination to certain diseases, lifestyle-related problems and many more which has been described to be a threat to human life and the thus they need to be addressed and measures are put in place which would help in limiting their various negative effects. These issues are noted to be there over a long duration to time and they need to be dealt with in a much more professional manner and thus having the preparedness, emergencies, and many more aspect of them having been covered and rather not having their continued increase which is noted to put human life into much danger each day (Lovestone & Howard, 2020).

Explanation of your personal views of health, based on your readings.

There are different global health issues which include immunization issues to the Covid-19 virus, HIV/AIDS, mental health issues, nutrition, and physical activity, environmental quality, and many more. For this paper, I will discuss broad details the depression in elderly people in the United States. Depression is a mental health disorder that is noted to be having the traits of loss of interest in the activities and having lesser moods which are depressed brining about the impairment of the daily life activities. Depression is a disorder that can be treated whereby some medications are normally provided and the patient education helps in dealing with the disorder. Depression of an elderly person in the United States is noted to be at a high rate more specifically during the Covid-19 period whereby I was noted to affect many the person including young persons (Leung & 梁綺雯, 2017).

Depression in an older person is noted to be having symptoms that include feeling hopeless mostly to one’s life or having a helpless outlook on the life which is associated with feeling guilty, lack of worthiness, and self-hate which are very dangerous symptoms as they can make someone commit suicide. Loss of interest is another common symptom where depression takes ways the enjoyment which is there about someone loving something or someone's and thus having much withdrawal from the activities. Sleeping issues, fatigues, and anxiety are also very common symptoms of depression which are linked to bring about insomnia or lack of sleep for the elderly person. Elderly men are noted to be having high irritability percentages which bring about risky behaviors and even substance abuse, also there is observed that there are emotions that are uncontrollable and thus having frustrations and many more. Other symptoms would include having weight ad appetite changes whereby they get to reduce each day by day drastically and even having the behavior of looking for death by having intentions of committing suicide or any other bad thing which would bring about death (Howard, 2020).

Diagnosis

Depression is diagnosed in several ways which include the physical examination which includes the asking of questions by the health expert and this happens mostly when it is being linked to a certain physical health issue that is underlying. The laboratory test is another diagnosis method in which a health expert can carry out one's blood test so that he/she can check thyroid functioning. Carrying out psychiatric examination is another very important diagnosis method that helps in the mental health assessment where questionnaires can be used for this case thus able to get the most important data so that the patient treatment method can be developed. The last diagnosis method would include the DSM-5 which is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorder that is noted to be published by the American Psychiatric Association (Tüscher & Tebartz van Elst, 2012).

Treatment and medication

Depression in elderly person the United States is normally treated in several ways that involve the medication processes and the person who is having severe suffering, they are just admired to the hospital where they receive specialized and attentive care. Medication for these patients suffering from depression involves the use of antidepressants which are based on someone's health status. They include tricyclic antidepressants such as nortriptyline, the selective serotonin reuptakes inhibitors which are also considered to be much safer for one to take, such as vilazodone, escitalopram, and many more. Other medications involve monoamine oxidase inhibitors, atypical antidepressants, and many more. Patient education is another very important thing that should be provided to the patent and the caregivers and that there can also be done brain stimulation therapies (Winchester et al., 2018).

Conclusion: Identify 3 health issues of significance to a selected group of people. One must be a global issue.

The groups which had been selected were for the elder person whereby they are noted to be having other health issues other than just having depression. These other three issues would include the malnutrition issues which are much related to the fact that they are not having to earn and thus ends up taking diets which are not a balanced diet, and these diets are in small amounts which mean that they are not able to cater for their body health need thus having malnutrition. Other very common issues are lifestyle living related diseases which include diabetes, heart disease, oral health issues, hypertension, and many more which tend to affect a high percentage of them as it's very rare to lack an old person lacking a lifestyle-related issue. These disease needs to be dealt with more professionally as these elderly people are already having reduced health performance and thus, they need some special care so that they can be helped on living or getting tough from these diseases. The third issue commonly observed in an elderly person is having eyesight, oral and hearing issues which are very common to a larger population which tends to affect much on how they behave and their health in general (Bass et al., 2019).

References

Bass, J. K., Haroz, E. E., & Sartorius, N. (2019). Global mental health issues. Public Mental Health, 53-70.  https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916602.003.0004

Howard, R. (2020). Depression in elderly people - pocketbook. CRC Press.

Leung, Y. E., & 梁綺雯. (2017). Systematic review: Effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions in managing depression in elderly. Open Dissertation Press.

Lovestone, S., & Howard, R. (2020). Clinical presentation of depression in the elderly. Depression in Elderly People, 21-30.  https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003072928-4

Tüscher, O., & Tebartz van Elst, L. (2012). Depression and movement disorders. Depression in Neurologic Disorders: Diagnosis and Management, 145-156.  https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118348093.ch12

Winchester, M. S., Knapp, C. A., & BeLue, R. (2018). Global health collaboration: Challenges and lessons. Springer.