How Can Your Aging Adult Determine Whether She’s Feeling Grief or Depression?
Home Care Services in Springfield VA: Senior Grief or Depression?
Depression and grief can look very similar from the outside. People who are grieving can be extremely sad, but that may not be actual depression. Determining the differences between these two conditions can ensure that you get the right help for your elderly family member.
Grief Can Lead to Depression, but They’re Different
Grief involves loss, whether that’s loss of a person or some other type of loss. Depression can be a result of a loss, but it’s still quite different from grief. Depression is more a pervasive sadness that takes over your aging adult’s life. Sometimes it’s not so easy to tell the difference between the two.
Grief Is All the Emotions
When your elderly family member is grieving, she’s going to have good days and days that aren’t so good. She may also experience a wide range of emotions from some of the highest highs to the lowest lows. During the grieving process, your elderly family member might choose to go through her happy memories, before the loss, and there are emotions associated with that. It’s a constant up and down of all of the emotions.
Depression Is More Constant
Depression, on the other hand, is much less like a roller coaster. It’s fairly even-keeled if a little bit of a downer. In fact, that’s the source of depression’s name. Your aging family member’s entire emotional aspect is depressed and held low. She’s likely to be feeling extreme sadness, all the time, as opposed to having good days and bad days.
Seek Help for Your Aging Adult
If you’re witnessing your elderly family member dealing with either grief or depression, talk to her doctor about what you can do for her. There may be medications or other types of treatment, such as talking to a counselor, that your elderly family member is willing to try. But ignoring the issue won’t help at all.
Whether your elderly family member is experiencing grief or depression, make sure that life is simple for her now. Consider hiring elderly care providers to take over some of the tasks that are becoming difficult for her.
If you or a loved-one are considering home care services in Springfield, VA, please contact the caring staff at Quality Health Services LLC. Call today 703-910-7081.
In the course of his career he has obtained different instructor certifications and trains people on how to save lives using American Heart Association guidelines for Basic Life support, First Aide and Advance Cardiac Life Support. He has been an advocate for caregiver training and have obtained Train-the-Trainer certifications which have enabled him to train caregivers to help seniors, along with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, function well at home and in their communities.
Ivo is grounded in the belief that people do better in their familiar environment. He started Quality Health Services, LLC in 2010 to provide the highest quality of “In-Home” care with compassion and diligence. Also, by promoting and supporting every client’s optimum level of independence, quality of life and well-being while preserving their dignity.
"Grounded in the knowledge that people are happiest at home, we have made it our priority to help our patients remain and thrive in their familiar environment – HOME. "