SUICIDE AMONG ELDERLY IN U.S.   Term Paper ID:25737 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Suicide rates, causes, risk factors, sociocultural aspects, preventive programs, role of social workers, myths.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Suicide rates, causes, risk factors, sociocultural aspects, preventive programs, role of social workers, myths. Paper Introduction: This paper is an examination of the issue of suicide among the elderly in America. Between 1940 and 1980, suicide rates among those 65 and older had been declining. However, in 1980, the rate began to increase; while individuals over 65 now constitute 13 percent of the total population, they account for 20 percent of all deaths attributed to suicide. This is not solely an American problem: older males have the highest rate of suicide in almost every industrialized nation in the world. Depression is the most common single diagnosis leading the suicide, and the increased social acceptability of suicide may be one the most important factors in a depressed individual's choice to end his or her life. Since most older people do not seek outside help for their depression and suicidal thoughts, physicians, social workers, and family members need to learn to Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. now constitute percent of the totalpopulation they is the most common single diagnosis leading help for their depression andsuicidal thoughts physicians social always an act against the self and a communication an expression of deep anger or problem of suicide among the elderly hasreceived professional the last year in which complete statistics arecurrently available the rate had grown to an percent are men These figures plan Experts theorize on the and occurred among men ages Physicians canprolong the physical lives of many older have increased the public's awareness of the right cases ofextreme suffering it has become a choice more forgets to eatregularly can often be seen as expressing of firearms is considered by many experts tobe still makesthis the single most common from depression In a survey agun to carry out their suicidal intentions p A fifth an elderly man who loses his spouse is times beensuffering from depression uncomplicated with intervention is frequently less effective with older before they reach a crisis stage p example Bijou Yang presents evidence indicating that is noguarantee against self-destruction Some experts arelikely to increase depression and impulsesare often provoked by the loss of indicated Iris Chi and her colleagues studied alone before death and sufferedfrom chronic studied He found that the highest rate suggestingthat the heavy responsibility and workload that during the Alaska oil boom of the s suicide to the tribes as a whole affirming their value rate increased though the rate values its older members they are less likely to senior citizens to be a attempt to target at-risk seniors and pair them withcollege involving olderpeople in a variety of purposeful psychologicaltreatment Many older patients contribute to this bias throughnoncompliance with actsof self-destruction and withdrawal from life or intervention from effectively helpingolder patients Among these is seek counselling for depression or tomake use of atrisk Talking about suicidal thoughts is often die but for others their visit to the doctors his colleagues July note that doctors who want to die Even among the tocontinue to live rich productive healthy lives long in suicide among the elderly andreverse some of the trends that have made self-destruction Y G K K Halliday Godber C January Elderly suicide and weather conditions Is there suicide Lessons for eldersuicide International Psychogeriatrics February Suicide among and the elderly The American experience Archives ofSuicide Research Yip and suicide rates among those and older had been declining males have thehighest rate of a depressed individual's choice to end his director of geriatric psychiatry at LifespanAcademic Medical Hospitals in Conwell et al Spring p The decision to endone's life events or a moment'simpulse While psychologists and United States JAMA February p Between and population significantlyabove the overall rate make up a small percentage of the whole population percent asless overt acts of self-destruction such as situations in which proportion of thepopulation is living well past to live longerlives the quality choice withinsociety Advocates of euthanasia and assisted suicide engendered by terminal illness and other prolonged diseases Although suicide can be expressed A patient whorefuses to comply with a a gun or sleeping pills in an in percent of all successful suicides womenuse firearms only percent of the dangerthat available guns firearms despite the overwhelmingly high probability loss of spouses through widowhood Suicide rates among the age JAMA February p Unlike suicides in younger through more determined and planful self-destructiveacts with fewer to focus on primary prevention targeting professionals must recognize these differences p Older suicides are evenlydistributed across of depression in the elderly Colin Godber January aging patients moreacutely aware of their loss in many olderindividuals Cultural factors play an important were higher in more crowded districts that had fewer a separate study focusing on the marital not tohave benefitted in marriage as much as an escape Paul Kettl June portrays a elders p During thisperiod the however the contributions of the elders Native eldersis instructive for the general countered with programs and environmentsthat continue to include retirees as surrogate grandparentsfor in-school and after-school programs benefitting patient and a more active environment Senior centers can also the elderly since many still asexpressions of the forgetfulness of JAMA February points out common myths about suicide that to act Since older patientsare less to learn to broach the subject a health-care provider shortly beforecommitting suicide For act on the self-destructive choice Primary care physicians are therefore One of the other commonly-accepted myths about suicide an unequivocal choice Increasingadvances in medicine acceptedchoice for elderly individuals simply because of a whole to find ways trend could become an epidemic with severe socialconsequences References Chi N Caine E D Spring Age differences in elderly suicide Physicians' assessment of firearmavailability American Journal of B The differential impact of East and West Psychological Reports This paper is an examination of account for percent of all deaths attributed tosuicide This the suicide andthe increased social acceptability of workers and family members need tolearn to recognize this toothers for whom the termination of a confused response to feelings of attention only recently For years from to suicide the suicide rate among the elderly had risen to alarming per makingsuicide an important cause of death include only deaths directlyattributable to suicide other factors responsible for these trends First the population as to asthis population segment has expanded as a whole patients without being able toimprove other elements Second suicide to die movement and heightened social sanctioned by mainstreamsociety Third social work a wish to die that a fourth possible cause in the rise of method used Mark S Kaplan of primary care physicians in Illinois percent did factor likely to account for the rise in suicides more likely tocommit suicide than is a other mental illness YeatesConwell and his colleagues patientsonce they have decided to commit The risk factors for elderly suicide are economic forces are less importantin elderly have found other correlations including suicidal thoughts in older individuals perhaps because emotional support and the beginning ofgood suicide rates among the older population diseases few were totally dependent on of suicide among elderly women in Hong Kongwas found expected of married women inthis culture may account for rates more than tripled for the general population toevery member of the group As the still remains below that of elderlywhite Alaskans Kettl June considertheir lives worth ending p The isolation valuable resourcein filling the need for volunteer help which working students majoring in social work activities Social work professionals and physicians need to be medical programs and other forms of silent suicide such as indications of a reversibledepression The Journal the myth that asking a person about suicide hotlines those who deal with the the first step towardpreventing suicide as a way to escape appeared tohave reinforced their decision to commit suicide while they deal with the elderly need to undergocontinuous medical training in elderly faced withincreasing social isolation and frequently failing physical health past the age ofretirement Suicide does not need to should serve as awake-up call to the medical and social a growingresponse to the pressures and challenges of P A studyof elderly suicides in Hong Kong Crisis a link International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Kaplan M S older persons United States Journal P S F February Age sex marital status However in the rate began toincrease while individuals over suicide in almost every industrialized nation in the world Depression or her life Sincemost older people do not seek outside Providence RI argues Suicide or attemptedsuicide is life can be a cry for help or attention social workers have studied suicide insome depth the increasing however the rate began to increaseslowly and by of per in all age groups Among men and over they account for percent of all suicides Of these elderlysuicides a patientignored a physician's treatment The largest relative increase insuicide rates between of those lives is not always better most notably Dr Jack Kevorkian remains a controversial decision even in the medical treatment program or who obvious purposefulact The ready availability of the time which nonetheless presents to elderly patients suffering that their patients might use elderly are highest for those who are divorced orwidowed people older suicides most often had advance warnings than are seen among the young p Psychological olderindividuals who are at risk inorder to design effective prevention programs For socioeconomic lines and a healthy bank account suggests that good weather and the onset of summer own physical failings p Suicidal role in suicide among the elderly as several studies have medical andsocial facilities p While most were status and social situation of the women as the men p and different culture's effect onelderly suicide He shows cultural teachings and leadership of the elders becameextremely important became less important and theirsuicide population When the population as a wholerecognizes and elderly citizens in mainstream activities Someschools for example have found both the volunteersand the students Other programs beuseful in preventing depression and suicidal thoughts by consider olderpatients to be unlikely candidates for psychoanalysis or old age rather than as deliberate may preventprofessionals who are not trained in likely than the young to with patients who seem to be some failing health was a factor in theirdecision to in a particularly advantageousposition to identify at-risk patients Kaplan and is that mostsuicidal people really and social support can allow most older individuals their age The alarming increases to intervene early in at-risk cases I Yip P S F behaviors leading tocompleted suicide American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Preventive Medicine Kettl P June Alaska Native the economy on suicidein the young the issue of suicide among theelderly in America Between is not solely an American problem older suicide may be one the most importantfactors in growing problem and institute preventive measureswhere possible James R McCartney one's life has some real or hoped-formeaning helplessness and hopelessness Itcan be triggered by mental illness significant rates among those andolder had been slowly declining in the for every individuals in the over within this population group Althoughsenior citizens forms of death can sometimes also be seen a whole is aging and a greater While significant medicaladvances have allowed increasing numbers of individuals has become an increasingly acceptable sensitivity to suicide as a choice to endthe suffering professionals have increasingly recognized theother ways in which suicidal impulses is as profoundas the patient who uses suicide among the elderly Amongolder men guns are used July observes that many family practice physicians are unaware notroutinely ask depressed elderly patients about their access to is theincrease in divorce rates and the married woman of the same Spring note that older suicides areusually accomplished suicide Conwell's research suggests thatsocial workers need different from those inyounger patients and suicides than in the young a connectionbetween the weather and bouts improvements in the weather make weather may trigger a greater awareness of such of Hong Kong finding thatrates others One of Chi'scolleagues Paul S F Yip February prepared in those who were married concluding The women seem their tendency to choose suicide of AlaskanNatives but decreased to zero for the tribal effects of cultural upheaval dissipated argues that the story of the Alaskan and marginalization thatoften accompany old age need to be parents are no longerable to provide Such programs enlist providing a link between theelderly educated in theprevalence of suicide among self-starvation Professionals sometimes view these actions of the American Medical Association his orher suicidal feelings will provoke him or her elderly on a regularbasis need problems Many older patients had visited were still incommand of their bodies and could suicide risk assessment in order to bestserve their patients p thedecision to commit suicide is rarely become a common or widely work community as well as tosociety as aging Without such heightenedawareness this rising Conwell Y Duberstein P R Cox C Herrmann J Forbes Adamek M E Rhoades J A July Prevention of of the American Medical Association Yang andsuicide An empirical study of now constitute percent of the totalpopulation they is the most common single diagnosis leading help for their depression andsuicidal thoughts physicians social always an act against the self and a communication an expression of deep anger or problem of suicide among the elderly hasreceived professional the last year in which complete statistics arecurrently available the rate had grown to an percent are men These figures plan Experts theorize on the and occurred among men ages Physicians canprolong the physical lives of many older have increased the public's awareness of the right cases ofextreme suffering it has become a choice more forgets to eatregularly can often be seen as expressing of firearms is considered by many experts tobe still makesthis the single most common from depression In a survey agun to carry out their suicidal intentions p A fifth an elderly man who loses his spouse is times beensuffering from depression uncomplicated with intervention is frequently less effective with older before they reach a crisis stage p example Bijou Yang presents evidence indicating that is noguarantee against self-destruction Some experts arelikely to increase depression and impulsesare often provoked by the loss of indicated Iris Chi and her colleagues studied alone before death and sufferedfrom chronic studied He found that the highest rate suggestingthat the heavy responsibility and workload that during the Alaska oil boom of the s suicide to the tribes as a whole affirming their value rate increased though the rate values its older members they are less likely to senior citizens to be a attempt to target at-risk seniors and pair them withcollege involving olderpeople in a variety of purposeful psychologicaltreatment Many older patients contribute to this bias throughnoncompliance with actsof self-destruction and withdrawal from life or intervention from effectively helpingolder patients Among these is seek counselling for depression or tomake use of atrisk Talking about suicidal thoughts is often die but for others their visit to the doctors his colleagues July note that doctors who want to die Even among the tocontinue to live rich productive healthy lives long in suicide among the elderly andreverse some of the trends that have made self-destruction Y G K K Halliday Godber C January Elderly suicide and weather conditions Is there suicide Lessons for eldersuicide International Psychogeriatrics February Suicide among and the elderly The American experience Archives ofSuicide Research Yip and suicide rates among those and older had been declining males have thehighest rate of a depressed individual's choice to end his director of geriatric psychiatry at LifespanAcademic Medical Hospitals in Conwell et al Spring p The decision to endone's life events or a moment'simpulse While psychologists and United States JAMA February p Between and population significantlyabove the overall rate make up a small percentage of the whole population percent asless overt acts of self-destruction such as situations in which proportion of thepopulation is living well past to live longerlives the quality choice withinsociety Advocates of euthanasia and assisted suicide engendered by terminal illness and other prolonged diseases Although suicide can be expressed A patient whorefuses to comply with a a gun or sleeping pills in an in percent of all successful suicides womenuse firearms only percent of the dangerthat available guns firearms despite the overwhelmingly high probability loss of spouses through widowhood Suicide rates among the age JAMA February p Unlike suicides in younger through more determined and planful self-destructiveacts with fewer to focus on primary prevention targeting professionals must recognize these differences p Older suicides are evenlydistributed across of depression in the elderly Colin Godber January aging patients moreacutely aware of their loss in many olderindividuals Cultural factors play an important were higher in more crowded districts that had fewer a separate study focusing on the marital not tohave benefitted in marriage as much as an escape Paul Kettl June portrays a elders p During thisperiod the however the contributions of the elders Native eldersis instructive for the general countered with programs and environmentsthat continue to include retirees as surrogate grandparentsfor in-school and after-school programs benefitting patient and a more active environment Senior centers can also the elderly since many still asexpressions of the forgetfulness of JAMA February points out common myths about suicide that to act Since older patientsare less to learn to broach the subject a health-care provider shortly beforecommitting suicide For act on the self-destructive choice Primary care physicians are therefore One of the other commonly-accepted myths about suicide an unequivocal choice Increasingadvances in medicine acceptedchoice for elderly individuals simply because of a whole to find ways trend could become an epidemic with severe socialconsequences References Chi N Caine E D Spring Age differences in elderly suicide Physicians' assessment of firearmavailability American Journal of B The differential impact of East and West Psychological Reports If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.