How To Treat Severe Anxiety In The Elderly

Golden years are the best time of your life! You get to sit back, relax, pick up things you didn’t have time for and enjoy every day as it comes stress-free. While ageing is great, seniors have to pay more attention to their health - physical and mental. This is mainly because seniors are more prone to illnesses; keeping an eye on their health can help identify the medical condition on time and start the treatment.

Speaking of health, as per studies, anxiety (a mental health disorder), among older adults in India was found to be 18.7 per cent. It is normal to have anxiety when dealing with certain stressful situations, but if anxiety in the elderly becomes severe and affects the quality of life, it should be treated. We’ll get to how to treat anxiety in the elderly soon but before that, let’s explore the basics.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a feeling of fear and uneasiness that makes you feel restless, stressed and have a rapid heartbeat. In some cases, it may cause you to break a sweat. While it is a normal reaction to stressful situations, it is sometimes a bit more than normal and can be overwhelming.

Symptoms of Anxiety in the Elderly

• Shakiness and panicky feeling

• Difficulty in breathing, sweating and nausea

• Dizziness

• Digestion issues and chest pain

• Headaches and confusion

• Eye and vision problems

• Muscle tension, soreness and fatigue

• Irrational thoughts

• Forgetfulness

• Irritability

• Avoidance of activities, places, people, and even thoughts that trigger anxiousness

• Changes in eating habits, weight and appetite

• Inability to sleep

• Not wanting to leave home, withdrawal and isolating themselves

• Obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviour

Triggers that can cause or worsen anxiety

• Health problems

• Loss of independence

• Immobility

• Chronic pain

• End-of-life planning

• Grief and loss

• Financial insecurity

• Dementia

• Role reversal

• Changes in sensory perception such as hearing loss

• Isolation

How to treat severe anxiety in the elderly?

Art therapy to the rescue: 

Art therapy is a creative therapeutic approach that involves art-making such as painting, sculpting, clay modelling and drawing to help people manage stress and anxiety. For anxiety in seniors, art therapy can help distract seniors from thinking about the emotions or thoughts that are overwhelming them. It is also said to help with panic disorders.

Art therapy is said to reduce anxiety symptoms, increase quality of life and improve accessibility of emotion regulation strategies.

To experience the complete effects of art therapy you can get in touch with a qualified art therapist who will encourage you to delve deep into your emotions. However, you can get immediate relief from anxiety with a few art therapy exercises at home, which include colouring books, mandala artwork, scribbling on paper, making a collage and creating affirmation cards. This is especially beneficial when considering therapy for elderly individuals. 

Ground yourself: 

Anxiety in the elderly is common given the various changes. Anxiety can keep them in a loop of negative thoughts. Grounding exercises are strategies to bring you back to the present moment, helping seniors detach themselves from the emotional pain and regulate their emotions better.

This way, you get to step away from the negative thoughts until you calm down. A 2015 study found that an hour of grounding exercises helps improve mood in people with mental conditions such as anxiety.

One of the top grounding exercises for anxiety in the elderly is to engage all your 5 senses. You can start with the simple deep breathing exercise, known as the 5-5-5 method. Take a deep breath in for 5 seconds, hold in for 5 seconds and breathe out for 5 seconds.

You can continue this process until you find some relief. After that, you can practise the 5-4-3-2-1 technique. In this method, you look around and focus on

• 5 things you see
• 4 things you feel
• 3 things you hear
• 2 things you smell
• 1 thing you taste

This technique shifts your focus on what is happening around you.

Have a good night’s sleep: 

Sleep is said to improve your brain performance, mood and health. Hence, lack of sleep can worsen anxiety in seniors and anxiety can cause difficulty in falling asleep. There are a few ways you can try to get a good night’s sleep.

• To start with, you can create a peaceful sleep environment.

• Go to bed and wake up around the same time every day.

• Use a white noise machine to drown out distracting thoughts.

• Cut down on caffeine intake, as consuming too much caffeine can lead to worsening symptoms of anxiety.

Stretching helps: 

The mind-body connection is a two-way street. Your physical state can influence your mental health and vice versa. That’s the reason why exercising is advised by doctors, as it is not only good for your physical health, but also mental health. It is said to improve your mood and reduce symptoms of anxiety in the elderly.

You can try light stretching exercises that help stimulate the production of endorphins, alleviating your mood, stress levels and anxiety.

You can try Yoga, where a lot of stretching and deep breathing is involved. For elderly individuals, yoga for senior citizens can be particularly beneficial as it calms your mind and improves your mental health.

Speak to a Psychotherapist: 

If all of the above points don’t work and your anxiety is occurring too many times, lasting longer and affecting your quality of life, you should schedule an appointment with a psychologist. Therapy is a highly effective and recommended way to treat mental disorders such as anxiety.

Your psychotherapist and you can figure out the causes and triggers of your anxiety and create a plan to manage your anxiety. It will take time before you figure out how to manage your anxiety, but you will be able to get your anxiety under control for sure.

Anxiety in the elderly can take a toll on their physical health as well, which is why seniors must have a safe and secure living environment, where everything is taken care of.

Primus Senior Homes, a premium senior care facility is situated in various Indian cities such as Bangalore, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata. The team at Primus Senior Homes is committed to improving the quality of life of the seniors and providing them with a hassle-free life. Primus properties are senior-friendly and offer a range of services and facilities including nutritious meals, housekeeping services and 24/7 security. Contact Primus to learn all about our properties and facilities.