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Depression
Over Iraq Conflict Is More Likely Among Elderly
By
Kelly Greene
The
Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2003
Eighty-four-year-old Winston Anderson rejoined a support group for depression sufferers last week, several days after U.S. troops starting bombing Baghdad. Mr. Anderson served as a medic in World War II, and he has been glued to television coverage of the war in Iraq. "I think about all the close friends and relatives I lost," he says. "It doesn't bring back good memories at all." While Americans of all ages are anxious about the war in Iraq and terrorism, older adults -- the so-called greatest generation -- appear to be at the highest risk for developing emotional and physical problems. The nation's 70-plus population, who survived the Great Depression and helped win World War II, has long been known for its bootstrapping bravado. But today, these same individuals, according to doctors and therapists who work with older patients, are more likely to fall victim to depression and associated illnesses as the conflict in the Middle East drags on. "The people we worry about now are too anxious to exercise, can't sleep, don't feel like eating -- the secondary consequences of anxiety," says Jerilyn Ross, a psychotherapist and president and chief executive of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, Silver Spring, Md. In part, that vulnerability stems from older adults having more leisure time to worry and to "have the TV on all the time," Dr. Ross notes. Beyond that, individuals age 70 and older, like Mr. Anderson, often have painful memories of the 1930s and 1940s -- memories that war and terrorism rekindle. "These people have been holding in frightening things for 50 years that are just coming out now," says William McDonald, director of the Fuqua Center for Late-Life Depression. The center is part of Emory University's health-care arm and housed at the Wesley Woods Center, which has day programs, including Mr. Anderson's, retirement apartments and a nursing home. Rachel Engelman, an 81-year-old in the same day program, talks about spending much of her time with a box of tissues as she relives the Holocaust. "This war takes away my sleep," she says. The stories from her youth come tumbling out: "Jumping out of line" at three different concentration camps to avoid being killed; moving to Israel and marrying a soldier "who I didn't hear from for months at a time"; reuniting with her sister, who was pulled from a burial pit by a U.S. soldier who noticed she was still breathing. Many older adults may fail to recognize that they need help. Often, an elderly person will dismiss red flags of depression -- stomachaches and sleeplessness, among others -- as "a case of the nerves," says Dr. McDonald. But left unchecked, such physical symptoms could have serious health consequences. On a recent evening here at Wesley Woods, residents of the apartment tower were picking at their dinners of pork loin and chicken parmesan. "Everyone's a little antsy," says Virginia McBride, a 73-year-old widow who has two grandsons in the military, including one in the Middle East. "We're worried about the younger members of our families. ... Germ warfare scares me more than anything." Such fears are understandable among older adults. "They aren't as mobile as they once were," says Dr. Ross in Maryland, who has been talking to the director of her own parents' retirement community in suburban Washington, D.C., about ways to allay residents' worries. "There's a real anxiety that if something happens, they can't get out fast enough. It's more of a helpless feeling I think than even some of the younger people have. They want more security guards, they want more plans for escape." Write to Kelly Greene at kelly.greene@wsj.com
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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