anxiety in seniors

Announcement

This article will provide a comprehensive guide on recognizing the signs of anxiety in seniors and seeking appropriate help to ensure their mental well-being and quality of life.

anxiety in seniors

Introduction

Anxiety disorders can happen at any age. While most people think of anxiety happening in children or adults, senior anxiety is equally common. Understanding anxiety symptoms in seniors is important so that you can differentiate between normal aging and anxiety, look for common triggers, and figure out when it’s appropriate to get treatment.

Understanding Anxiety in Seniors

According to the CDC, levels of anxiety decrease with age, so older adults are less likely to struggle with anxiety compared to younger adults. But this does not mean that there isn’t such a thing as senior anxiety.

While nearly 20% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 experience anxiety, 11.2% of people who are over the age of 65 experience senior anxiety. Contradictory studies have found that 35% of seniors experience senior anxiety, with 23% of them having recently been diagnosed.

Common causes of anxiety in seniors

There are several causes of anxiety in seniors, including environmental changes, genetics, changes to the family structure, insecurity over lifestyle, and changes to physical and mental well-being. Understanding anxiety symptoms in seniors can help you recognize when it’s time to seek professional treatment and what type of anxiety meds for seniors are best.

Recognizing Anxiety Symptoms in Seniors

The symptoms of an anxiety disorder will vary from one person to the next, but there are some general symptoms, both mental and Behavioral as well as physical, that are most common in older adults.

Common anxiety symptoms in seniors

Physical symptoms include things like:

  • Heart palpitations
  • Hot flashes
  • Headaches
  • Shortness of breath
  • Nausea
  • Tense muscles
  • Cold hands
  • Excessive sweating
  • Trembling

Other symptoms include the following:

  • Uncontrollable thoughts of panic or fear
  • Obsessive thoughts
  • Disproportionate reactions to things that trigger fear
  • Memory and focus issues
  • Nightmares
  • Insomnia
  • Restlessness
  • Not engaging in routine things
  • Ritualistic behaviors

Differentiating between normal aging and anxiety symptom

When you look at the common anxiety symptoms in seniors, especially the physical signs, it can be difficult to differentiate between normal aging. Things like heart palpitations, hot flashes, and even nausea are all common symptoms of aging, especially for women. Shortness of breath or tense muscles is a normal part of recovery from any type of physical exertion in seniors as well.

One of the ways to differentiate is to look at all of the presenting symptoms. If you or someone in your family is presenting with shortness of breath without any other problems like obsessive thoughts, insomnia, or ritualistic behaviors, it could simply be one aspect of aging.

But in older adults, the most common anxiety disorder is generalized anxiety disorder, where older individuals are simply worrying about many things, usually focusing on the worst possible outcome in any situation regardless of whether that outcome is realistic. So, anxiety in seniors might present as a high state of alert, an individual who is constantly nervous and anxious, and they feel like they can’t control their emotions.

Things like shortness of breath on their own would not present in the same way as shortness of breath with constant worrying and unfounded fears.

Senior Anxiety: Risk Factors and Triggers

There are several risk factors for depression in seniors and anxiety. Understanding these common triggers and risk factors can help you determine when it’s time to get professional treatment and when you can manage things on your own.

It can also help you differentiate between normal aging and anxiety symptoms.

Risk factors for developing anxiety in later life

There are several risk factors that can lead to developing anxiety later in life, even among individuals who didn’t previously struggle with anxiety disorders. Risk factors include significant life changes like:

  1. Stressful life events, including the death of a loved one
  2. Financial insecurity
  3. Sleep disturbances
  4. Loss of independence
  5. Limited physical mobility
  6. Side effects from medications
  7. Chronic health issues
  8. Childhood trauma

Common triggers for senior anxiety

So, what are the most common triggers for anxiety in seniors? Again, this will be highly personalized. A senior who is struggling with depression and anxiety because of limited mobility and chronic health issues will likely have triggers that relate to reminders of these things.

This might be as simple as not being able to get out of a wheelchair to hug a loved one at a family reunion, being unable to reach food on a higher shelf in the kitchen because of limited mobility, or looking at old photographs of when that individual was more physically active.

Seeking Help: Diagnosis and Treatment

So, how do you know when it’s time to seek professional help?

You should seek professional help for anxiety and seniors when that anxiety reaches the point that it is untenable, cannot be managed by the individual or by anyone else, and is interfering with daily function.

How anxiety is diagnosed in seniors

When you seek help for senior anxiety, a professional psychiatrist or therapist will utilize the DSM to ask a series of questions and review the current symptoms. They will also review physical and mental health, history of anxiety disorders, and other aspects to determine whether the symptoms might be better explained by another condition.

Once they are confident in their diagnosis that the anxiety disorder is present and is not the result of other conditions, they can work toward a treatment plan.

Anxiety Medications for Seniors

So, what is the best anxiety medication for seniors? Anxiety medications typically include things like benzodiazepines and antidepressants. With hypertension, beta blockers might also be useful. There are risks with any medication, which is why anxiety meds for seniors are best when coupled with things like talk therapy.

anxiety in seniors

Psychotherapy or counseling, especially things like exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, can help individuals face their fears, be more comfortable with their triggers, and identify the thought patterns that provoke their anxiety and replace them with something less fearful.

Given the fact that there are several side effects to prescription anxiety meds for seniors, older adults can also learn to manage their anxiety with stress management techniques like mindfulness, yoga, and meditation, as well as things like transcranial magnetic stimulation, which does not have the same side effects and can be combined with any other type of treatment.

Conclusion

It is important to recognize anxiety symptoms in seniors and to get help where appropriate. Depression in seniors and anxiety symptoms can significantly interfere with physical and mental health as well as daily function. Taking action can help you improve life for yourself or your loved ones by finding the right type of treatment plan and the right medication.