Growing old is hard, especially when you start noticing that your body and your mind are going away. Many people suffering from dementia experience symptoms of depression.
However, scientists from USL reviewed 29 trials of psychological treatments, involving nearly 2600 participants, and found that talk therapies could help alleviate symptoms of depression in people with dementia.
People with dementia often experience symptoms of depression, but talking therapies may help. Image credit: Naama ym via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Research has shown that people with dementia are twice as likely as other people their age to be diagnosed with a major depressive disorder. It is estimated that around 16 % of dementia patients are dealing with depression as well, but some scientists believe that the real number should be closer to 40 %. Depression in dementia patients is usually treated with medicine, but scientists believe that at least in some cases psychological interventions could be highly effective at treating depression in dementia cases.
In this paper scientists looked at many different trials, in which psychological interventions involved such methods as CBT and supportive and counselling interventions and were aimed at improving coping, well-being and reducing distress.
Dementia is an incurable neurodegenerative condition and it is inevitably going to cause a lot of stress, because people feel that they are losing themselves. While dementia itself cannot be cured at the moment, scientists hope to at least alleviate the symptoms of depression so that these people can live the latter portion of their lives in peace.
Scientists found that psychological interventions are effective at alleviating symptoms of depression as well as improving the quality of life. Dr Phuong Leung, co-author of the study, said: “There is now good enough quality evidence to support the use of psychological treatments for people with dementia, rather than prescribing medications, and without the risk of drug side effects. What we need now is more clinicians opting for talk therapies for their patients and commitment to funding further high-quality research in this area.”
Specifically, scientists are excited about the effects of talking therapies, which are exactly what they sound like – people (usually specialists) talking to the patients and guiding them through towards a more positive outcome. However, scientists also say that more studies are needed to bring these results to a clinical setting.
The number of people with dementia is going to grow as our societies age. However, they shouldn’t be fed unnecessary medicine, which may subdue them and make them incapable of enjoying their lives. Talking therapies do not have adverse side effects and should be prioritised in these cases.
Source: UCL