Grief And Depression

As people age, many things happen in their life that can affect their health. Some develop illnesses, lose physical or mental capability, or lose loved ones. Regardless of what it is, it is a main concern when it comes to the person’s health and it is important for the nurse to recognize and try to intervene in these situations in order to provide good care and keep the client healthy.
Literature Review
Women are more likely to be widowed than are men. Women tend to live longer than men, which is something that has been proven in many cases of research and is one of the main causes of being widowed among women. Another factor that may lead to a woman being a widow is that women marry older men a lot of the time, even though it is becoming less
Being able to tell the difference between grief and depression is a huge thing when it comes to care of this client. Grief is a roller coaster involving a wide variety of emotions and a mix of good and bad days (Robinson, Smith, & Segal, 2016). However, this patient is not having a variety of emotions but is just not doing her usual routines and is not being sociable. This client seems to be experiencing feelings of emptiness and hopelessness.
Depression can have many symptoms such as, intense, pervasive sense of guilt; thoughts of suicide or a preoccupation with dying; feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness; slow speech and body movements; inability to function at work, home, and/or school; and seeing or hearing things that aren’t there (Robinson et. al., 2016).
Treatment. For this client, it is important to get her up and moving and back to her usual routines, but taking care of her issues in order according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. So some treatments that may work are eating healthy meals, being more sociable, and exercising. The main concern at this point is to ensure the client is eating healthy. This fits into the physiological category on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. A poor diet can make depression worse so it is important to ensure that the client is eating the proper meals. Meals that contain fruit, vegetables, protein, and grains are ideal for this
Research suggests it may be just as effective as antidepressants in relieving depression (Robinson, et. al., 2016). Because the client is older, the exercise should not be too hard or strenuous. Instead, it should be simple things like walking out to get the newspaper or doing housework such as vacuuming or dusting. The client should stretch, however, before doing these things in order to keep from causing any issues with the body.
Conclusion
In summary, this client is having depression most likely due to her husband’s recent passing. With the treatments of a healthy diet, socialization, and exercise, her self-esteem should be increased and she should return to her normal daily routines. Without these treatments, her depression will continue to worsen and her health will most likely deteriorate also. A nurse choosing these interventions are for the benefit of the client and are necessary to help decrease the depression and keep her in a healthy