Depression is a common disorder for every age, and finding a common cure for such a common disorder may seem simple. Depression is usually treated with psychotherapy, therapy where the patient talks to a certified doctor or receives prescribed medications from a certified doctor. However, when we look at geriatrics1 and pediatrics2 and how different their physical structure and mental structure are, we then start to question: is there an actual common cure? There are some obvious reasons why pediatric and geriatric patients are treated differently but what would happen if we gave them the same treatment for depression? Pediatric patients and geriatric patients might seem different but they have the same brain structure. For a pediatric patient, the brain is still developing and has not processed a lot of information. For geriatric patients, their brain is fully developed and slowly losing memory because of how much information they have stored. This is why old people have memory loss. Pediatric patients and geriatric patients have some common mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. To treat anxiety, PTSD, and depression for pediatrics and geriatrics, they would go to therapy and, in some cases, take medications. If they are treated similarly why are they established differently and what does that mean? For instance, if a pediatric patient would be diagnosed with anxiety, it would not be as serious as a geriatric patient because they are susceptible to cardiac arrest and seizures. Similarly, depression is not taken seriously for the elderly because it's common for them to be isolated and it will not affect them as much. Although if a child gets depression it would be taken very seriously and they would be are given medications and a therapist to cope. This is because a child who has depression can act impulsively. After all, they are children and their brain is not fully developed yet. The same thing applies to PTSD because if a child’s brain is not fully developed they may not be able to fully take on the
traumatic experience.
Research Paper by Vrindha Moka, Sophmore at Mission San Jose High School
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