Mental health for the elderly in the time of COVID

By Snow Marin

Illustration by Raul Abella

 

In a little rundown stone house on the South of the hilly plains of Basco, Batanes lives Lola Alice (not her real name).

Lola Alice laid on her wooden bed with her eyes shut as the brgy. health worker and the community doctor knocked on her door. Hearing the familiar voices, she sat up with her disheveled hair, not at all excited with the visit.

In truth, Lola Alice is blind, abandoned by her only son to fend for herself. Sometimes, the neighbors would bring her food which she accepted while most days preferring only to lie on her bed and starve. She lives day by day wishing she was dead.

 

“Bigyan ko po kayo ng gamot, Lola”, doctor Noel, the community doctor, said, to which Lola Alice responded, “Ayoko ng gamot; gusto ko lason.” While trying to convince Lola Alice that she’s going to live a long life, she barked back saying, “Bakit? Yung iba naman tatawa-tawa pa, bukas libing na.”

 

Depression and dementia are the most common mental and neurological disorders in the elderly according to WHO. But the stigma surrounding these and people simply attributing the signs to “old age” make it hard for these people to seek help; their mental health issues merely brushed aside.

With the current pandemic, one of the most vulnerable sectors of the community—the elderly—have been in isolation for over four months since the declaration of the nationwide lockdown.

Lourdes, 76, lives alone in her house, while her son and his family are just next door. She says she isn’t allowed to go out nor visit her grandson so she talks to them over a short concrete wall separating their household. She says, “I’m afraid I might get sick with no one to take care of me. But this is my choice and I leave it to the Lord to take care of me.”

Even after the lockdown was lifted, the elderly are still discouraged from going out. Visitors are not allowed in nursing homes and the elderly continue to isolate themselves while the rest of the world is slowly dipping its toes into reality once more.

A number of suicide cases have been linked to the toll COVID-19 has had on people and the government’s response to the current situation isn’t of much help, UP doctors and professors go as far as calling it a ‘failure’. The unclear, misguided information and the tackling of issues seemingly unrelated to the main problem at hand seemed to have pushed the system further down the rabbit hole.

But as people struggle to keep up with their daily lives, and deal with their own psychological fallout, it is important to note that depression and anxiety are as common in the elderly as it is in any age group. Although, it may be harder to identify, as certain signs as being meek or lethargic can simply be linked to physical decline or frailty, it is all the more reason to be attentive.

They may not want to be a bother to anyone but it is in their silent hopes that their presence at a time like this is recognized, albeit occasionally, rather than completely thrown into the dark airless void of non-existence.