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Nonpharmacological Treatments for Older Adults with Depression

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Nonpharmacological Treatments for Older Adults with Depression



Marie Crowe, RPN, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychological Medicine, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Sue Luty, FRANZCP, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychological Medicine, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Because there are particular corollaries to the treatment of depression in older adults, which include contraindications to the use of antidepressant drugs in combination with many medications, there is a need to examine nonpharmacological forms of treatment. This paper is based on a review of the literature on nonpharmacological treatments for depression in older adults. Electroconvulsive therapy has a role in severely depressed older adults because of its rapid effectiveness in life-threatening situations while psychotherapy, either on its own or in combination with antidepressants, is effective in the treatment of mild to moderate depression.
Key words: older adults, psychotherapy, depression, electroconvulsive therapy.
Related Terms: Mental Health, depression, electroconvulsive therapy, older adults, psychotherapy