Mental Health Issues In Older People: Impact Of COVID-19

In the last few years, there has been a major change in health quality across the world. It has been witnessed that new diseases have developed and that has created major issues regarding the health of the individual. It is just not about the physical health issues which are creating a major problem for the individual as mental health is turning out the major problem for individuals. Mental health is a major problem for older people as it has been seen that the impact of mental health on this age group is quite high (Tajvar, Grundy & Fletcher, 2018). But to make it worse it has been that older people do not take this issue seriously and that directly has an impact on well-being of the individuals. It has also been witnessed that health professionals are underestimating the mental health challenge. This essay will talk about how mental health is one of the major issues in the present scenario. It will also discuss the issue of covid impacting the mental health of individuals. This essay will also demonstrate how health professionals and older people are not considering it a major challenge and impact of the same.

Menta health is a major challenge as it has been noticed that when an individual suffers from mental health issues then the daily routine of an individual is hampered. An individual who is facing a major challenge has a disturbed life. Anxiety, depression, stress, etc are major mental health challenges that are occurring in an individual. When an individual faces these mental health challenges then he gets away from the social life and loneliness is the major partner of an individual. This is the biggest problem with mental health issues as it brings an individual into an isolation zone where it is tough for him to counter the increasing mental health issue. It has been seen that older people are the one who suffers from mental health issues as they are at high risk of having mental health issues. Due to their age, they are socially isolated and they easily suffer from the mental health issue (Wang et al., 2017). This mental health challenge causes a major disruption in an individual life.  Impact Of Mental Health Issues Example Paper

However, the major issue related to mental health issues is that mental health professionals are under-identified by healthcare professionals and even by older people. It has been seen that older people have a negative stigma about mental health. They do not consider mental health issues as a threat to their health and just treat mental health challenges or issues as a bad phase (White & Casey, 2017). They do not prefer to get the treatment the same and that causes major trouble. It has been witnessed that mental health issues such as depression and stress require healthcare assistance. But older people want to stay away from the treatment. This can cause major damage to their well-being and it has been noticed that many old people have got major serious mental health issues as they ignored the treatment at early stages.

Healthcare Professionals’ Neglect

After covid, conditions have changed rapidly and the change in condition has impacted human beings daily as well. Lockdown and social distancing have caused loneliness issues in individuals. Individuals’ habits have changed drastically and it has been witnessed that with this sudden change, many individuals are not able to cope with this change. These changes have put a lot of pressure on older people as they have to leave alone most of the time. Social life was restricted due to covid and due to the same, issues of stress have developed in the lives of the individual. Depression and anxiety have also been witnessed in older people and other age groups people (Yang et al., 2020). It would not be wrong to say that risk has increased suddenly and that is causing major chaos. But due to their mindset, older people are not taking any health-related treatment to the same and that is significantly raising the threat to their health.

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Health professionals have also under-identified this issue as they are much inclined towards other health challenges. It has been seen that the covid situation has almost turned out to be the major cause of worry and most health professionals are trying to counter the Covid challenge. But while fighting the covid challenge they have not reacted to the rise in mental health issues. It has been seen that mental health challenge has grown up since the covid outbreak and neglecting the mental health issue is making things much worse. Evidence has shown that anxiety issue has increased in older individuals since covid and that is a major issue (Vahia, Jeste & Reynolds, 2020). The rise in concern related to mental health also triggers the well-being of an individual and that is why it is important to deal with this problem of mental health. There is a need to identify this mental health challenge and health professionals should be taking the right steps to counter this challenge (Laidlaw, 2021). They must understand the impact which is caused by mental health challenges especially after the Covid break so that there is proper intervention taken and the affected group can get the right treatment.

Evidence has displayed that all age groups have been affected by the challenge of mental health but the highest impact has been on the older age group (Bailey et al., 2021). The impact is high in older people and it can be countered with a proper care plan. There is a need to provide them support with proper health care. It is more about empowering them and making sure that they are not troubled with the health care challenge. There is a need for proper collaboration so that the health issue of older people can be taken care of. Collaboration in health care makes sure that the hurdles can be countered with proper direction. It has been seen that collaboration can help in providing the ultimate care to old people.

The Impact Of COVID-19

Family members of the old people ad carers can work together to help old people recover from a mental health issue. It is important to understand that old people’s recovery is not impacted by any more mental health issues. That is why providing person-centered care to older people is important and this care approach will make sure that older people get much-needed support. Care providers should make sure that they respect the opinion of the older people as it has been seen that when older people’s opinions and decisions are considered in the care approach then they also respond well during the care. Personal-centered care will make sure that the older people are always the center of care and every decision regarding their care is taken by them (Santana et al., 2018). It has been noticed that the health outcomes in person-centered care are on the positive side and that is why this care approach is preferred by health professionals and care providers.

There is a need to promote mental health issues and challenges among older people. To promote mental health, it is important to adopt the right strategy for promotion. Psychoeducation is one of the things which can be implemented to guide older people regarding mental health challenges (Wilson et al., 2018). It has been noticed that psychoeducation act as one of the defining ways for a mental health issue. Psychoeducation makes sure that the client can understand the challenge. Psychoeducation inserts positivity in an individual and that helps him to come out of the negative zone of mental illness.

One of the strategies to promote health education is by staying connected with older people and developing a therapeutic relationship with them. It has been noticed that older people do not talk a lot with anyone as they are busy in their zone. That is why educating them is a tough task but through the development of therapeutic relationships, it is easy to help them. The therapeutic relationship is all about showing them respect and care. When one showcases respect and care to old people then old people respond as well and they also show a lot of mutual respect ( ). They start talking about the challenges they face and also start listening actively. Through this therapeutic relationship, one can guide the old people and help them understand the seriousness of mental health issues.

Based on the above discussions, it can be summarized that mental health is a major concern in individual well-being. Since the covid outbreak, issues of mental issues like stress, anxiety, and depression are increasing. But it has been noticed that older people who are at the highest risk are not treating mental health problems as a major challenge. Even health professionals are not dealing with this issue seriously. But the rising number is concerning and there is a need for a change. Health collaboration must take place which works toward well being of the old age people. It is also important to guide old-age people with proper health education so that they are aware of their mental health issues.

References

Bailey, L., Ward, M., DiCosimo, A., Baunta, S., Cunningham, C., Romero-Ortuno, R., … & Briggs, R. (2021). Physical and mental health of older people while cocooning during the COVID-19 pandemic. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 114(9), 648-653.

Laidlaw, K. (2021). Cognitive behavioral therapy with older people. American Psychological Association.

Santana, M. J., Manalili, K., Jolley, R. J., Zelinsky, S., Quan, H., & Lu, M. (2018). How to practice person?centred care: A conceptual framework. Health Expectations, 21(2), 429-440.

Tajvar, M., Grundy, E., & Fletcher, A. (2018). Social support and mental health status of older people: a population-based study in Iran-Tehran. Aging & mental health, 22(3), 344-353.

Vahia, I. V., Jeste, D. V., & Reynolds, C. F. (2020). Older adults and the mental health effects of COVID-19. Jama, 324(22), 2253-2254.

Wang, J., Lloyd-Evans, B., Giacco, D., Forsyth, R., Nebo, C., Mann, F., & Johnson, S. (2017). Social isolation in mental health: a conceptual and methodological review. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 52(12), 1451-1461.  Impact Of Mental Health Issues Example Paper