Overview

The majority of older adults cope well with the many changes that accompany the aging process. Many older adults, who experience chronic disease, multiple losses and/or a lack of support, are vulnerable to mental illness. Mental illnesses are real health conditions which, if left untreated, impact all aspects of a person’s life and complicate social and health problems.

Data and Trends

• Nearly 20% of the population aged 55 and older experience mental disorders that are not part of “normal” aging.
• In Maryland, there are more than 125,000 older adults with depression and 70,000 older adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses, yet only 5,000 older adultsused Maryland’s public mental health services in 2001.
• Older patients with significant symptoms of depression have roughly 50% higher health care costs than non-depressed older adults.
• Depression is often triggered by medications or chronic illnesses common in later life such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and arthritis.
• Older adults are considered the group most at risk for suicide, as the suicide rate in older adults is more than double that of any other population.
• White males over the age of 80 are six times more likely to commit suicide than any other demographic group.
• While individuals over the age of 65 comprise only 13% of the U.S. population, they account for 20% of all suicide deaths.
• Many older adults who committed suicide had seen their primary care physician close to the time of their death: 20% on the same day, 40% within one week, and 70% within one month of the suicide.