Quality of life in the elderly mentally ill and the right to dye with dignity

Abstract

There appeared serious ethical challenges for psychiatry: to cut mental health costs and to provide care to as many as possible. The psychiatrists have to face these challenges and treat the elderly with or without mental disorders, assuring them the best quality of life as it is possible.

Multiple loses in old age are important in decreasing of quality of life and increasing of mental health problems in the elderly. Suicide and attempted suicide are one of the major health problems in the world. We discuss about the wish of die in elderly persons and about ‘the right to die’. We are questioning: whether it is natural for the elderly to wish to die, and whether the right to eventually kill oneself should be respected or whether suicidal intentions in old people are expressions of mental diseases.

To find predictors of suicide in old age is an urgent task for prevention. In more of the controlled studies depression and personality disorders are potentially important predictors of suicide in the elderly. The prevention of suicide in later life must account the educational program for primary care to enhance knowledge regarding the treatment of mental illnesses and recognize them. Thus we must use the newer antidepressants and community care to avoid the suicidal behaviour in the elderly, because the depression is under-diagnosed and often under-treated. We try to improve the quality of life of all elderly mentally ill patients, also solving the stigma and discrimination against the elderly with mental problems.