Old Age, Depression and Memory

By Dr Jerry Diakiw

We would all like to be mobile, healthy and live to be a hundred. The trouble for me is, that as Woody Allen said, “You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred.” I too, don’t have the discipline to give up all those things I love that would get me to 100! Dr Harry Chow, a local doctor maintains that the health system is only geared to getting us to 80. For example, he argues that normal cholesterol readings will get you to 80, but not 100. He said “I’ve never met a 100 year old with an LDL number over 1. Mine is considered normal at 1.8. I’ve doubled my statin and I’m trying to get it below 1.

One of the most crippling of ailments associated with living to 100, is depression. Anxiety, declining self esteem, and chronic pain are all closely related to an increase in depression.

In studies of the life long pattern of self-esteem, the teenage years are rock bottom, especially for girls, and it rises steadily in maturity to a peak in one’s 50s and 60s. But in the 80s, self-esteem drops like a stone to an even lower level than the teenage years. A dramatic decline! A loss of self-esteem is a stepstone to depression, anxiety and loneliness.

In a sample of nearly 50,000 seniors living in residential care facilities in five jurisdictions in Canada, nearly half (44%) had a diagnosis and/or symptoms of depression. Elderly individuals with chronic pain are 4 times more likely to suffer from depression.

Baycrest Organization reports , “detecting depression in residents of long-term care can be a challenge. Depressive disorders sometimes mimic symptoms of dementia. There are many symptom similarities that can complicate differentiating between the two.”

In studies of depression and mortality, the odds of dying were 1.5 to 2 times greater in elderly people with depression compared to those without depression.

Memory and Reminiscence Therapy

Treatment of depression in seniors’ residences falls into three treatment options: cognitive behaviour therapy, reminiscence therapy, or drugs. There are many versions of reminiscence therapy such as memory and gratitude therapy but all facilitate verosions focus both talk and writing in harvesting memory. Reminiscent therapy has proven to be more effective in treating depression than anti-depressant drugs.

For example, according to the Nursing Interventions Classification system, reminiscence therapy is an intervention that uses recall of past events, feelings and thoughts in conversation or writing to facilitate pleasure, and quality of life. Memory workshops were significantly more effective than a placebo group in reducing stress and depression. Especially when focussed on positive memories.

“Recalling specific positive memories seems to be a skill that can be trained.” Says, Markham Heid in “The Power of Positive Memories.”

Benefits of Writing.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get nostalgic”, he claims. Numerous recent research papers suggest that “recalling happier times may be an effective bulwark against stress and depression.” People with depression tend to recall negative memories and remember them as worse than they actually were. However Memories of happy experiences — especially ones that involve social interaction — seem to benefit people because they reshape how we see ourselves for the better. We can be trained to recall happier times when we are feeling blue.

Loneliness is often associated with depression. It has been estimated that the effects of loneliness have the health impact of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. While a Yale study has found that being comfortable with the process of aging can add 7 years to lifespan. Memoir writing for seniors encourages community building and embracing this stage of our life.

Writing about your memories is a profoundly therapeutic activity.

Writing’s benefits range from not only the emotional but also the physical.

A University of Auckland study found that by writing for 20 minutes a day for 3 days before a biopsy, the surgery area healed much faster than the control group. They suspect that the writing activity promoted higher levels of a growth hormone which results in faster healing.

Beth Finke who teaches seniors, says that writing life stories has many benefits for older adults, including stimulating the brain with new skills, healing past wounds, forging new friendships, and leaving a special gift for family.

But more important, is that writing helps the writer make sense of their lives. Writing enables seniors to exercise their brain power in a stimulating intellectual activity.

By talking and writing about their memories, seniors can be heard and appreciated for what they’ve experienced. Self esteem goes up for those who participate in some kind of story writing. Every life has a story worth telling! It leaves a legacy of living history for future generations, and it can bring enjoyment, satisfaction and closure in the last stage of life.’’( Finke)

It is now widely accepted that recalling and retelling our life experiences has positive impact on many mental health indicators, from depression, to cognitive function, to trauma recovery, and general well-being (Westerhof & Slatman, 2019).

There are currently 3 or more online memoir writing programs. A friend received “StoryWorth” for Christmas,($150) from her daughter-in-law. My friend receives a writing prompt in her email every week, such as, write about your memories of your mother as a young girl or you as a young girl. Each week the stories are submitted and shared with family and at the end of the year, photos are added and the book is published in a hardcover version (included in the price.) A Life Untold ($150) is another online version.

It may sound strange – but multiple scientific studies have shown that the simple act of putting pen to paper reduces the risk of depression and other illnesses.

Scientists have found that writing about yourself in a positive sense is linked to better health. Writing about yourself is good for you! It makes us happier and healthier if we focus on the positive