Introduction
Polypharmacy refers to the use of multiple drugs by a patient. This occurs when the patient uses too
many forms of medication or when the patient uses more drugs that are prescribed than needed. It also
occurs when all the medications to be used by the patient are clinically prescribed, but there are many
pills to take. It is also referred to as pill burden. Polypharmacy is most common in elderly people, and it
has adverse effects like reaction to drugs and increase in drug costs. Polypharmacy is common in elderly
people suffering from depression and anxiety. The effects of Polypharmacy have forced clinical officers to
provide alternative interventions to treat depression, and anxiety. An alternative intervention to treat
depression and anxiety among the elderly is psychosocial therapies. This paper analyzes if psychosocial
interventions are effective in treating anxiety and depression among the elderly.
Problem
Use of medication to treat patients suffering from depression has many side effects. The patient takes a
lot of pills that are not required. The patient also uses many forms of drugs. This causes adverse effects
like reaction to drugs and increase in cost of drugs. The medication is not effective like psychosocial
therapy as it does not address the main cause of the problem. Psychosocial interventions are more
effective in treating depression and anxiety among the elderly as they address the course of the problem
There are several articles that researchers have used to show how psychosocial therapies or intervention
are effective in treating depression among the elderly (Gabbard, Beck & Holmes, 2007).The research
question is in elderly patients with anxiety and depressions are psychosocial therapies effective in
treating the disorder than medication. The article used to carry the research is the Future of Psychosocial
Another article is a randomized trial of the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and supportive
counseling for anxiety symptoms in older adults (Klausner & Alexopoulos, 1999). This article analyzes
whether existing knowledge about the use of psychosocial interventions among the elderly patients. It
also discusses directions for future practices that can help improve health care among the elderly.
Geriatric disorders occur as a result of several factors. They occur where the patient has mental illness,
disability or has no enough psychosocial therapies (Klausner & Alexopoulos, 1999). Most researchers
argue that, psychotherapy reduces psychopathology and physical complains. Psychotherapy is effective
Mental illness among elderly people increases the risk of psychopharmacotheraphy. This is either
directly or through interaction with drugs. It can also increase the risk of psychopharmacotheraphy when
the patient does not comply well. This reduces the effectiveness of the process. Psychosocial
interventions and psychotherapy can help elderly patients suffering from depression, and anxiety cope
with many situations. For example, psychosocial therapies can help the patient cope with stressors like
loss of loved ones (Klausner & Alexopoulos, 1999). Most elderly patients with depression and anxiety are
treated by primary care physicians. The primary care physicians help recognizes symptoms of depression
and anxiety. The primary care physician may not recognize the symptoms of the disorders as they are
complicated by attitude of the patients and other factors. Psychopathology interferes with the outcome
of medical illness. This is because it worsens the outcome, and encourages disability.
This makes recognition and treatment of mental disorders to have different outcomes. The impact of
provide information for designing good health care system for old people in the community. The study
carried out in the article shows that psychosocial intervention is effective in treating elderly patients with
depression and anxiety. Different types of psychosocial therapies were used to carry out the study. The
psychosocial interventions were more effective in treating depression and anxiety than medication
(Sable1 & Jeste1, 2001).Researchers have found five psychosocial interventions effective in treating
depression and anxiety among the elderly. The psychosocial therapies include cognitive behavioral
Other psychosocial interventions include interpersonal therapy, reminiscence therapy and psycho
education therapy (Sable1 & Jeste1, 2001). Cognitive behavioral therapy is aimed at changing the
patient’s thoughts and skills. It also helps modify the emotional state of the patient. Psycho education
interventions are administered in group formats (Gabbard, Beck & Holmes, 2007). The interventions are
aimed at reducing symptoms of depression among the elderly patients. In the study, the elderly patients
were administered psycho education therapy in groups. The interventions helped reduce the symptoms
of depression among the patients. Depressed adults were assigned to get cognitive therapy and
alprazolam. The researchers combined cognitive group therapy and placebo and used placebo alone
(Gabbard, Beck & Holmes, 2007). The interventions given to the group gave different results.
For example, the group that received cognitive therapy showed greater improvement. The therapy
helped the adults improve the mood and sleep efficiency. The group showed high sleep efficiency and
better mood. The group that received placebo alone and Alprazolam alone did not show good results.
The cognitive behavioral therapy was also used to treat other disorders like anxiety among the elderly
patients and it had good results. The anxiety level among the patients went down. This showed that
cognitive behavioral therapy can reduce stress among the patients instead of using medication (Gabbard,
Beck & Holmes, 2007).Another psychosocial intervention that was used in the research is problem
solving therapy.
Problem solving therapy focuses on solving family problems. The therapy is different from other
therapies in that it emphasizes on the social situation of peoples problem. The therapy believes that
people develop problems as a response to their social surrounding. In problem solving therapy, the
therapist is required to solve one problem at a time. The therapist uses techniques that are specific to
the situations. This makes it easy for the therapist to solve problems among the elderly patients
(Gabbard, Beck & Holmes, 2007). The main objective of problem solving therapy is to solve problems
and change the behavior of the patient. The therapist studies the symptoms of the patient and decides
the technique to use to solve the problems. Behavioral solving therapy is aimed at changing the social
The therapists studied depression symptoms among the patient. The symptoms made it easy for the
therapists to use the right technique to treat depression. Behavioral solving therapy helped eliminate
family problems and other stressors. It also helped the elderly change their behavior. This reduced the
symptoms of stress and anxiety among the patients.The problem solving therapy assumes that lack of
skills in social problem solving increases the susceptibility of depression among the elderly people in the
society. Improving problem solving skills make elderly patients better, and it helps them cope with
dificuity situations (Klausner & Alexopoulos, 1999).. This prevents them from developing
psychopathology. Problem solving is effective in treating depression among patients with dispersion.
Patients who have participated in problem solving therapy have reduced levels of depression.
This is because problem solving therapy helps eliminate symptoms of depression. The elderly patients
showed better results than the patients who did not. Problem solving is effective in controlling
depression and anxiety among the elderly patients as the patients are taught how to cope with
problems. Thus, it is clear that psychosocial therapy is more effective in treating depression and anxiety
than medication (Feldman & Christensen, 2003).Interpersonal psychotherapy also helps treat depression
and anxiety among the elderly. Interpersonal psychotherapy mainly focuses on interpersonal content. It
also focuses on developing interpersonal skills. Interpersonal psychotherapy assumes that interpersonal
factors lead to development of psychological problems. The therapy is different from other therapies in
that it emphasizes on interpersonal. It helps change a patient’s behavior so as to help him adapt to
2003). Change of roles and interpersonal deficits. The interpersonal therapy is important as it helps
eliminate such problems. Interpersonal psychotherapy is an important treatment for patients with late
life depression. Late life depression can be linked to losses and social isolation (Feldman & Christensen,
2003).Studies have shown that interpersonal psychotherapy alone is effective in treating acute and
continuation depression among elderly patients. It is also effective in treating elderly patients when
combined with pharmacotherapy. In the study, interpersonal psychotherapy was used alone and it
showed effective results. This is because it reduced the level of depression among g elderly patients. It
Then interpersonal psychotherapy was used with psycho education therapy and the outcome was good.
The two therapies were able to reduce the level of depression among g elderly patients. It also helped in
managing depression among elderly people. The study was also carried out using placebo and the
results were not effective. The placebo did not treat depression in the positions effectively. Some
patients still showed symptoms of depression even after being given placebo. Thus, the placebo was not
effective in treating depression among the elderly people like interpersonal psychotherapy. The study
shows that psychosocial therapies are more effective in treating depression and anxiety among elderly
patients than medical interventions (Feldman & Christensen, 2003).The researcher also used
psychotherapy vary from one patient to another. They depend on the medical health of the patient.
It is used on all elderly patients suffering from depression and anxiety. In patients without disability,
cope with looses and other stressors. For patients who are not very old, psychodynamic psychotherapy
helps the patient accept his or her physical limitations (Feldman & Christensen, 2003). It also helps
eliminate fear of dependency by encouraging the patient to cope with the situation. Moreover,
psychotherapy helped elderly patients with anxiety, and depression. It gave good results like behavioral
It also proved more effective than medications used to treat depression and anxiety.Another
psychosocial therapy that was used in the research is reminiscence therapy. Reminiscence therapy was
invented as treatment for depression, and anxiety among the elderly people. The therapy was based on
the assumption that reflection of positive experiences in a patients life helps eliminate depression and
lose of hope. It also assumes that reflections of negative experiences helps control depression and lose
of hope. Reminiscence therapy reduces symptoms of depression among elderly patients (Feldman &
Christensen, 2003). Most researchers have found the method effective in controlling depression among
elderly patients. This is because it helps the patient eliminate symptoms of depression by reflecting on
positive and negative experiences. Though, the method proved effective in controlling depression, it did
This is because patients showed some symptoms of depression after some time. The method was
considered effective than medication used to treat depression and anxiety. In addition to being effective
than medication, the method was better than lack of treatment. It helped the elderly patients have a
renewed life. They managed to cope with stressors like bereavement and isolation (Feldman &
Christensen, 2003).The content of the article supports the idea that psychosocial interventions are more
effective in treating depression and anxiety among the elderly than medication. This is because the
psychosocial interventions used are aimed at helping the patient change his or behavior and help him
cope with stressors. The interventions have no negative effects like medications used to treat depression
and anxiety. Thus, they are more effective than medication (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).
King, B, C ., & Colville J, et al. (2001). A randomized trial of the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral
therapy and supportive counseling for anxiety symptoms in older adults. J Consult Clin Psychol. Vol 69,
page756–62.
Sable1, J, A .,& Jeste1,D,A.(2001) Anxiety disorders in older adults. Current Medicine Group LLC.Vol 3,