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WORLD / Health
Elderly at highest risk for suicide
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-19 11:54
Not long after 72-year-old Anne Beale Golsan had retired on disability
from her job as a librarian, she put a stack of paid bills out for the
mail, hung up a freshly pressed outfit and taped a note to the front of
the house.
"Don't come in by yourself. Get somebody to come with you. Sorry, Love
Beale."
Her niece arrived at the house they shared in Baton Rouge, La., to find
police already there. Golsan had killed herself with a gunshot to the
head.
"Every single day it makes me feel like I wish I could have done
something," Jane Golsan Ray said, recalling her aunt's death eight years
ago. "I wish I could turn back the clock and prevent it. It doesn't get
any better, it hurts every day."
The elderly are the highest risk population in the?United States?for
suicide. But few suicide-prevention programs target them?- a result,
advocates say, of scarce funding and lack of concern for older Americans.
And mental heath experts say the number of elderly suicides is likely to
climb as baby boomers enter their twilight years.
The overall US suicide rate is 11 per 100,000 people. But for those 65
and older, that figure rises to 14 per 100,000, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, which based its findings on 2004
data, the most recent available.
Older adults are less likely to seek help and are more lethal in their
suicide attempts. So experts say special care is needed to reach out.
Dale Smith, 67, said he might not be alive if not for a
suicide-prevention program in Spokane, Wash.
Two years ago, he attended a meeting at his retirement complex where
everyone filled out a screening form for depression, a key risk factor
for suicide.
Based on his answers, a caseworker and psychiatrist later visited Smith
at his home, where they discussed what turned out to be a lifetime of
depression. They developed a plan of medication and therapy that Smith
says probably saved his life.
"I'm not unique. I think there's a lot of individuals out there who do
suffer from depression and they have no clue," he said. "They just know
they're not happy. They are tired, they want to pull the covers over
their heads and not look at the world, and they don't know what it is."
But many older Americans have fewer options for treatment than younger
people.
"It's a not-so-subtle social-political assignment of resources," said
Donna Cohen, a professor in the Department of Aging and Mental Health at
the University of South Florida.
Ten states passed laws last year intended to curb suicide among children
and young adults. But only two - New Jersey and New Mexico - passed laws
addressing suicide among the elderly, according to Suicide Prevention
Action Network USA, a national advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.
Depression is underdetected at all ages, mental health groups say. But
much more funding is available for treating younger people, including $82
million in federal money approved in 2004.
The situation prompted Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who lost his father to
suicide, to propose funding more suicide-prevention programs for the
elderly and changing a Medicare coverage rule that forces seniors to pay
more for outpatient mental health services than other medical care.
Some advocates and mental health workers say they also have to battle a
prevailing notion that depression is a normal part of aging.
"It is not natural and should be treated at all times," said Dr. Paula
Clayton, a psychiatrist and medical director for the American Foundation
for Suicide Prevention.
Janice Hodge of Sandy, Ore. said she didn't realize until after her
91-year old father, Anthony Liberto, died that he had been depressed.
He was struggling to care for his 85-year-old wife, who suffered from
Parkinson's disease. He did not work and he could no longer play golf,
his favorite pastime. Friends and family still visited, but they say he
spent much of his time lying on the couch and growing frustrated with
suggestions that he place his wife of 62 years in a nursing home.
Eventually, he shot his wife and killed himself, leaving a note that
read: "Sorry we had to leave this way, forgive me. Love, your Dad."
Experts say there need to be services tailored to the elderly because
they handle depression differently than younger patients.
In Spokane, the program that helped Smith, called Elder Services, trains
people who come in contact with the elderly?- from bank tellers to postal
carriers?- to notice signs of trouble, such as mail piling up or bills
going unpaid. Those people can then notify social workers.
In San Francisco, Patrick Arbore founded the Friendship Line in San
Francisco in 1973 after seeing the lack of understanding some suicide hot
line workers displayed for older people.
The line, which lets people call just to talk or get support, now handles
more than 3,000 calls a month. About one-quarter of the callers have
suicidal thoughts, a staffer said. But most just want a compassionate
listener.
"It's about reminding people that they are still a part of their
community," Arbore said. "Those connections bind us to life."
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