Senior Mental Health Services

Growing older can mean the chance to relax and enjoy life. For many people, however, growing older means suffering the loss of a spouse or lifelong friends, becoming ill with chronic disease, losing financial security or losing physical capabilities. For some older adults, these problems can lead to stress, depression or other emotional difficulties.

When these difficulties become too severe, it can cause serious changes in behavior that family members sometimes ignore or misinterpret, believing the problem to be the inevitable result of aging, instead of an illness that responds to treatment.

East Valley Hospital Medical Center Senior Mental Health Program addresses the psychological and medical aspects of mental health problems unique to the older adult.

Loss of interest in regular activities;
Expressed feeling of helplessness and hopelessness;
Extreme difficulty accepting the loss of a spouse, child, friend, pet, home or health;
Frequent mood swings, such as excessive agitation, anxiety, crying, displaying anger or hostility;
Weight loss or gain;
Abuse of medications or alcohol;
Refusal to take care of self or home resulting in unkept physical appearance or offensive odors;
Changes in sleeping patterns;
Withdrawing from others, isolation;
Inability to concentrate; sudden loss of intellectual functioning;
Seeing or hearing things; believing untrue things;
Confusion, disorientation, forgetfullness or memory loss; and
Threats or attempts of suicide

Warning Signals When Someone Needs Help