Our appeal to help people with mental health problems in later life

A ripe old age

Later life should be a golden time, a time of opportunity.  But for many people, it is marked by deteriorating mental health. 

Already 1 in 5 people over 65 in the UK suffers from depression – that is, 2.4 million people.  And this number is expected to reach at least 3.1 million over the next 15 years as the average lifespan increases.

Yet sadly, very often mental illness in older people goes unrecognised.  For example, people over 75 are much less likely to be asked if they feel depressed than a younger person and far less likely to be referred to a mental health specialist - one of the reasons why suicide is more common among older people than the population as a whole. 

How Janet turned her life around

Janet retired at the age of 60. After a lifetime as a busy working mother she was looking forward to happy, relaxed days ahead.  But it didn’t turn out like that. 

‘Having nothing to do made me feel useless and guilty,’ Janet told us.  ‘And with so much time on my own I started to feel unwanted.  Eventually I felt so worthless I wondered if there was any point going on.’

Janet remembers the first time she told her GP how she was feeling: ‘He didn’t really listen to what I was saying, and just prescribed an anti-depressant. But even after a few weeks I still couldn’t see a reason to get up in the morning'. 

The answer Janet was looking for eventually came from a friend who had been through periods of depression herself.  She suggested Janet fill her empty days and that the community centre would have activities and clubs she could join in.

That advice may well have saved Janet’s life.  Today her retirement is happy and relaxed as she helps organise speaker meetings, trips and exercise classes at her local centre.  It’s given her a whole new circle of friends who make her feel valued again. 

Janet’s experience shows that conditions like depression can be beaten if older people are helped to recognise and tackle the roots of the problem, not just the symptoms. 

What is the Mental Health Foundation doing?

Working with Age Concern last year, we produced an influential report, Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing in Later Life.

Evidence provided by nearly 900 older people and carers, and nearly 150 organisations and professionals revealed five factors that can all contribute to poor mental health in later life:

• lack of meaningful activity

• loss of contact with friends

• poor physical health

• age discrimination 

• poverty

But more work needs to be done:

• research into improving access to support and the provision of treatments for older people

• developing tools that will help health professionals recognise mental health problems in older people

• campaigning for a positive shift in society's attitudes to later life

You can help to break down the barriers that prevent older people enjoying better mental health an richer lives.

How can you help?

• £25 can pay to find someone's personal story for a media campaign to improve awareness of mental wellbeing in later life

• £50 can pay for 250 booklets on mental health in later life to be sent to GP surgeries, church groups or residential homes

• £100 can pay for a toolkit for healthcare professionals to help recognise depression in older people and give examples and options of how to deal with it

• £500 can pay for the cost of coordinating a training workshop for professionals who come into contact with older people with mental health problem

You can give older people the chance to come back from mental illness and lead rich and active lives by making a donation now