Why Depression Goes Unnoticed in Older Adults

Learn why depression goes unnoticed in older adults, straight from a leading psychiatrist Dr. Domenick Sportelli. Elderly mental health is tricky. The signs, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment all vary from mental health issues in younger demographics. There is one very common mental illness in particular that doctors rarely catch: geriatric depression. Depression in older adults is often mistaken as a normal sign of aging - but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Mental health issues in the elderly hide in plain sight, yet there’s a 75% rate of full recovery when they’re actually diagnosed and treated. So we sat down with Dr. Domenick Sportelli to get the education needed to manage this highly treatable yet underdiagnosed illness