Depression Inventory for the Elderly (Die)
Depression Inventory for the Elderly (DIE)
Depression is one of the most recurrently investigated psychological disorders within the area of medical R&D (Montorio & Izal, 1996). A number of exhaustive researches have been carried out to study its symptoms and impacts on different patients belonging to different personal and professional attributes and most of these researchers depicted that depression in the elderly people is very frequent and in spite of number of researches in this context, it is often undiagnosed or untreated. To add to this jeopardy, it has also been estimated that only 10% out of the total depressed elderly individuals receive proper diagnosis and treatment (Holroyd et al, 2000). And for that reason, an authentic evaluation of depression in the elderly people comes up with a challenge because as per their psychology, there are greater chances that they may disagree with the verity that they are depressed regardless of having apparent classic symptoms of depression.
Introduction to the Exposition
Adhering to the afore-mentioned factual revelation, there has been an immense inclination towards conducting researches that are addressing the use of inventories or instruments for evaluating the symptoms of depression especially in the elderly community of the social order. For such assessments there are several depression-rating scales and instruments currently available for the practitioners of this field. However, most of these scales were not originally designed for the elderly and lack proper validation in the elderly population (Holroyd et al, 2000). With this exposition, aim is to propose an exacting assessment inventory for depressed elderly on the basis of exhaustive reviews on the existing theories, conceptions, needs and demands of this community. The main purpose of this paper is to be of assistance for the readers to get the hold of the strengths and weaknesses of proposed assessment scale in the geriatric population.
Depression is one of the most recurrently investigated psychological disorders within the area of medical R&D (Montorio & Izal, 1996). A number of exhaustive researches have been carried out to study its symptoms and impacts on different patients belonging to different personal and professional attributes and most of these researchers depicted that depression in the elderly people is very frequent and in spite of number of researches in this context, it is often undiagnosed or untreated. To add to this jeopardy, it has also been estimated that only 10% out of the total depressed elderly individuals receive proper diagnosis and treatment (Holroyd et al, 2000). And for that reason, an authentic evaluation of depression in the elderly people comes up with a challenge because as per their psychology, there are greater chances that they may disagree with the verity that they are depressed regardless of having apparent classic symptoms of depression.
Introduction to the Exposition
Adhering to the afore-mentioned factual revelation, there has been an immense inclination towards conducting researches that are addressing the use of inventories or instruments for evaluating the symptoms of depression especially in the elderly community of the social order. For such assessments there are several depression-rating scales and instruments currently available for the practitioners of this field. However, most of these scales were not originally designed for the elderly and lack proper validation in the elderly population (Holroyd et al, 2000). With this exposition, aim is to propose an exacting assessment inventory for depressed elderly on the basis of exhaustive reviews on the existing theories, conceptions, needs and demands of this community. The main purpose of this paper is to be of assistance for the readers to get the hold of the strengths and weaknesses of proposed assessment scale in the geriatric population.
References: Holroyd, M.D., Anita, H. Clayton, M.D. (2000). Measuring depression in the elderly: Which scale is best? Medscape General Medicine, 2(4). Montorio, I. & Izal, M. (1996). The geriatric depression scale: A review of its development and utility. Retrieved February 24, 2012, from http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/icmha/outreach/documents/TheGeriatricDepressionScale.pdf.