Older men are less likely than older women to seek treatment for depression or to recognize its symptoms due to traditional ideas about masculinity and the stigma of depression, says a study published in the October 2006 edition of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Using data from IMPACT (Improving Mood: Providing Access to Collaborative Treatment for Depression), a large, multisite study of a disease management program for late-life depression, UC Davis researchers analyzed gender differences in treatment history, referral rates and symptoms of more than 1,800 adults age 60 and older with major depression. They also interviewed 30 key professionals connected with IMPACT to learn about the challenges of treating older men with depression.
The study found that older men were much less likely to be referred to treatment, to recognize symptoms, or to have received prior treatment for depression. Meanwhile, interviewees cited the manner in which men express depression (masking or concealing feelings of depression), contradictions with traditional masculine qualities such as toughness and stoicity, and the stigma attached to mental illness as causes for the gender disparity.
With men over 65 showing almost eight times higher rates of completed suicide than their female counterparts, these findings are especially relevant to depression care:
"The public health importance of improving care for depression among older men is clear...Because depression is one of the most important suicide risk factors, elucidating gender-specific aspects of depression care has the potential to reduce this disparity, close the gender gap in depression treatment, and lessen the enormous burden of suffering for older adults and their families."
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