NEW YORK: More than half (52%) of aged care residents have symptoms of depression, compared with 10-15% of older people living in the community. As well as feelings of sadness and low mood, aged care residents with depression feel disinterested in activities, hopeless about the future, guilty about the past and may desire death.
Some actively contemplate taking their own lives. The prevalence rate of suicidal thoughts in residential aged care settings can be as high as 46%. This is more than three times the rate found in older adults who are housebound but in the community.
This issue will only be solved with the realisation that rest homes are aged care jails and the next generation commits to their dissolution…