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TORONTO, Ontario /
The Globe and Mail / BREAKING THROUGH / October 3, 2009
Seniors and Mental Health
Recovery is possible
“I believe it. I see it. I live it,” says Karen Liberman. “People, no matter how sick they are, can fully, fully recover at any age and have full, rich, productive lives.”
Karen Liberman, diagnosed with bipolar illness, leads the Mood Disorders Society of Ontario.
Photograph by Tim Fraser
for The Globe and Mail
By André Picard,Globe and Mail
Karen Liberman had it all. She was, by her own description, a “vivacious, outgoing cheerleader type who married well – a lawyer no less” – had a family and a successful career as a senior policy analyst.
But, for no apparent reason, the “wheels fell off the bus” in her mid-30s as she began to experience severe sleep problems and mood swings and cried continually, the beginnings of a slow, steady “descent into true madness.”
Ms. Liberman, who was diagnosed with bipolar illness, saw her perfect life unravel: She was admitted to hospital 17 times, underwent electroconvulsive treatment 24 times and tried 27 different medications.
“I was suicidal virtually every day for 15 years,” she said. “There was not a day that I did not wish for death. I felt hopeless, useless, worthless, but mostly what I felt was absolutely nothing. I felt dead.”
I felt like a corpse, simply breathing in and out.”
Perhaps the only reason Ms. Liberman, who is now 63, did not kill herself was that the depressions were so profound that she lacked the energy to do so.
But one night – Aug. 27, 1997, to be precise – she was admitted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto on suicide watch. Her physician enrolled Ms. Liberman in a clinical trial for a new drug, mirtazapine (brand name Remeron), and she took a single pill.
While she slept, something in her brain clicked and the debilitating disease was gone. Ms. Liberman, now 63, experienced a rare phenomenon known as spontaneous remission. “I want to stress that there is nothing magical about this drug, but what I experienced was a bit of a miracle,” she said.
Ms. Liberman, walked out of the hospital determined to make profound changes to her life. One of them was to work with others who suffer from severe mental illness, which she now does as theexecutive director of the Mood Disorders Society of Ontario, said for many seniors, there is little talk of recovery. It is not a coincidence that older Canadians have a suicide rate nearly twice the national average.
In 2005, the most recent year for which there are detailed data, there were 3,743 suicides, including 626 among seniors.
In fact, while it is rarely talked about publicly, seniors are experts at killing themselves. In young people, there are about 20 suicide attempts for every fatality; in older people, the rate is one in four.
Seniors use more lethal methods to commit suicide – firearms, jumping from buildings and drug overdoses primarily – and because of physical health problems they often have an inability to bounce back, said Marnin Heisel, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Western Ontario.
He said that while the published suicide data are shocking enough, the true rate of suicide in seniors is probably 50 to 100 per cent higher.
While there is an assumption that older people kill themselves to escape pain and physical illness, Dr. Heisel said “it's almost always explained by mental illness, namely depression.”
Loneliness and isolation are key triggers for both depression and suicide.
One of the most disquieting facts is that virtually every senior who commits suicide had, shortly before dying, seen a doctor. But Canada's primary-care system, with its fee-for-service visits that last seven to 10 minutes, doesn't lend itself to “exploring emotional issues and suicide risk,” he said.
When older people have mental-health problems such as severe depression or anxiety, they often do not say so in as many words. Rather, they complain of stomach pains, sleep problems and the like and, as a result, they often go undiagnosed and untreated.Kimberley Wilson, executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Seniors' Mental Health, said the suicide rate among seniors is a tragedy, one that is an extension of prejudices and false beliefs. “Our biggest challenge is to get out the message that depression is not a typical consequence of aging,” she said.
“People should stop assuming, too, that if someone is older and depressed, there is no hope. Seniors can experience recovery, just like anyone else.”
That is a message Ms. Liberman agrees. also insists on delivering forcefully.
“People, no matter how sick they are, can fully, fully recover at any age and have full, rich, productive lives,” she said. “I believe it. I see it. I live it.” [
rc]
Also read:
How Life Began At 70
Seniors, even those with long-standing mental illnesses, can get better and thrive. “We need to reach out and help, not just abandon people to mental illness because they're older”
Beryle Garvin suffered from depression on and off for 50 years before being properly diagnosed four years ago.
'I didn't really believe I could get better at age 70, but I did,' she says.
Brigitte Bouvier for The Globe and Mail
© Copyright 2009 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc.
Karen Liberman, diagnosed with bipolar illness, leads the Mood Disorders Society of Ontario.
Photograph by Tim Fraser
for The Globe and Mail
By André Picard,Globe and Mail
Karen Liberman had it all. She was, by her own description, a “vivacious, outgoing cheerleader type who married well – a lawyer no less” – had a family and a successful career as a senior policy analyst.
But, for no apparent reason, the “wheels fell off the bus” in her mid-30s as she began to experience severe sleep problems and mood swings and cried continually, the beginnings of a slow, steady “descent into true madness.”
Ms. Liberman, who was diagnosed with bipolar illness, saw her perfect life unravel: She was admitted to hospital 17 times, underwent electroconvulsive treatment 24 times and tried 27 different medications.
“I was suicidal virtually every day for 15 years,” she said. “There was not a day that I did not wish for death. I felt hopeless, useless, worthless, but mostly what I felt was absolutely nothing. I felt dead.”
I felt like a corpse, simply breathing in and out.”
Perhaps the only reason Ms. Liberman, who is now 63, did not kill herself was that the depressions were so profound that she lacked the energy to do so.
But one night – Aug. 27, 1997, to be precise – she was admitted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto on suicide watch. Her physician enrolled Ms. Liberman in a clinical trial for a new drug, mirtazapine (brand name Remeron), and she took a single pill.
While she slept, something in her brain clicked and the debilitating disease was gone. Ms. Liberman, now 63, experienced a rare phenomenon known as spontaneous remission. “I want to stress that there is nothing magical about this drug, but what I experienced was a bit of a miracle,” she said.
Ms. Liberman, walked out of the hospital determined to make profound changes to her life. One of them was to work with others who suffer from severe mental illness, which she now does as theexecutive director of the Mood Disorders Society of Ontario, said for many seniors, there is little talk of recovery. It is not a coincidence that older Canadians have a suicide rate nearly twice the national average.
In 2005, the most recent year for which there are detailed data, there were 3,743 suicides, including 626 among seniors.
In fact, while it is rarely talked about publicly, seniors are experts at killing themselves. In young people, there are about 20 suicide attempts for every fatality; in older people, the rate is one in four.
Seniors use more lethal methods to commit suicide – firearms, jumping from buildings and drug overdoses primarily – and because of physical health problems they often have an inability to bounce back, said Marnin Heisel, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Western Ontario.
He said that while the published suicide data are shocking enough, the true rate of suicide in seniors is probably 50 to 100 per cent higher.
While there is an assumption that older people kill themselves to escape pain and physical illness, Dr. Heisel said “it's almost always explained by mental illness, namely depression.”
Loneliness and isolation are key triggers for both depression and suicide.
One of the most disquieting facts is that virtually every senior who commits suicide had, shortly before dying, seen a doctor. But Canada's primary-care system, with its fee-for-service visits that last seven to 10 minutes, doesn't lend itself to “exploring emotional issues and suicide risk,” he said.
When older people have mental-health problems such as severe depression or anxiety, they often do not say so in as many words. Rather, they complain of stomach pains, sleep problems and the like and, as a result, they often go undiagnosed and untreated.Kimberley Wilson, executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Seniors' Mental Health, said the suicide rate among seniors is a tragedy, one that is an extension of prejudices and false beliefs. “Our biggest challenge is to get out the message that depression is not a typical consequence of aging,” she said.
“People should stop assuming, too, that if someone is older and depressed, there is no hope. Seniors can experience recovery, just like anyone else.”
That is a message Ms. Liberman agrees. also insists on delivering forcefully.
“People, no matter how sick they are, can fully, fully recover at any age and have full, rich, productive lives,” she said. “I believe it. I see it. I live it.” [rc]
Also read:
How Life Began At 70
Seniors, even those with long-standing mental illnesses, can get better and thrive. “We need to reach out and help, not just abandon people to mental illness because they're older”
Beryle Garvin suffered from depression on and off for 50 years before being properly diagnosed four years ago.
'I didn't really believe I could get better at age 70, but I did,' she says.
Brigitte Bouvier for The Globe and Mail
© Copyright 2009 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc.
