Anti-Aging Remedies

Depression is another matter, and largely a function of one's emotional profile. Depression clouds thinking and leads to indecision, low self-esteem, paranoia, feelings of worthlessness, and often thoughts of death. Depressed behavior varies widely, but it can often worsen with heavy drinking. (After all, alcohol is a depressant.) Maybe we need to take another look at the motivation behind driving while intoxicated, irrational risk taking, or destructive and even senseless marital infidelity. What these behaviors have in common is an uncontrollable urge for self-destruction either directed at oneself or at one's relationships. It's almost a perverse willingness to tear apart your life.

How serious is the prospect of depression as you get older? Studies show that nearly 25 percent of elderly men seen by doctors for physical health problems also have symptoms of depression. Another study has suggested that five out of nine older men with gastrointestinal problems may have underlying psychological problems. Out of 300 persons with gastrointestinal difficulties, 56 percent (compared with 44 percent from physical factors) had GI pain from psychological causes. These included irritable colon, spastic colitis, gastritis, heartburn, nausea, diarrhea, and constipation. This leaves us to reconsider the old chicken-and-the-egg routine: To what extent is depression causing physical ailments, and to what extent could it be the other way around?

How prone are men to dysphoria, that emotion between "the blues" and abject depression? It's often hard to say. On the one hand, a macho nature frequently forbids men from talking about their despondency, let alone beginning to deal with it. It is commonly held, because they are more vocal about their emotions, that women suffer more from depression than men. But do we believe that just because women are more prone to express their difficulties? Keep in mind the old saw that when it comes to attempting suicide, "Women try, men do." Too many men never communicate their pain until it is too lateafter they have pulled the trigger, jumped from the window, or driven the car into a tree. A man's last exit unfortunately too often lacks any forewarning. Regardless, it is so terribly final.

Are women simply depressive "chickens?" Not really. The point could be argued either way. Obviously, the ability to cope and persevere should easily be seen as a stronger rational course. It is one thing to swallow a dozen sleepers as an attention-getting cry for help, but another to swallow the business end of a revolver under the influence of just enough of a depressant and disinhibitor such as alcohol.

Why, then, we wonder, do men seem to be more prone to such high-visibility difficulties during midlife? Men have certainly gotten quite a bit of press for their legendary midlife crises. One difference between the sexes may offer a clue. Men really struggle with a decrease in their perception of their physical powers, which they have been taught from birth (if not encoded in their genetic makeup) are vital for a meaningful life. Women, on the other hand, by midlife are just beginning to leave their childbearing yearsan obvious time of weighty responsibility, if not actual physical danger. To many (though not all) women, leaving the procreative period may come not as a shock and cause for depression but rather as a huge relief. I've seen plenty of 40-year-old women setting out on their own personal journeys, often not in sync with the mate of the last 20 years.

Overall, women appear to register higher rates of psychiatric treatment for such narrowly defined mental illnesses as neurosis or functional psychoses, but not for the brain syndromes or personality disorders. When we find a woman sitting in a psychiatrist's waiting room, she is frequently there to deal with depression or unhappiness that she, at least, is willing to admit as her own. "Guy things" include aggression, physical abuse, or violent behavior, antisocial personality disorders, or alcohol and drug abuse. If a man is at the shrink's for treatment for any of these, it is often at the urging of his wife, a social worker, or a family counselor, or mandated by some local court. Are we bad boys again?

As we age, one reality we have to anticipate is that a depressed friend, loved one, business associate, or patient may come out of the haze of a deep depression just long enough to pull the trigger. What should have we done?