Older Adults

Older adults may experience a number of stressors in their lives that may lead to a mental health crisis. Many experience illness or the death of friends or spouses. Some are caretakers for their spouses or friends as they age.  Others take on the responsibility of raising or assisting in the parenting of grandchildren.  All of which add to the load that an older adult shoulders. Many older adults cope well with the stressors in their lives while others have more difficulty. 

According to the Surgeon General, Suicide rates increase with age and are highest among Americans aged 65 years and older.  While this age group accounts for only 13 percent of the U.S. population, Americans 65 or older account for 20 percent of all suicide deaths.

Risk factors for suicide among older persons differ from those among the young. In addition to a higher prevalence of depression, older persons are more socially isolated and more frequently use highly lethal methods.  They also make fewer attempts per completed suicide, have a higher-male-to-female ratio than other groups, have often visited a health-care provider before their suicide, and have more physical illnesses.

Nearly 5 million of the 32 million Americans aged 65 and older suffer from some form of depression. Depression, however, is not a normal part of aging.

Most elderly suicide victims, about seventy percent, have visited their primary care physician in the month prior to their committing suicide.