Mental Health Archive

You may no longer play the role of breadwinner and family man, but there are still ways to stay engaged with life.

 Image: © Ildo Frazao/Thinkstock

For most of their adult lives, men are defined by what they do and how they do it, from their chosen career to their role in the family. However, as you age, you can lose your once-defined sense of purpose — the desire to pursue goals, feel life is worth living, and have a general enthusiasm for living.

You retire, the nest empties out, and you may have accomplished most of your personal and professional goals. "What do I do for the rest of my life?" becomes a nagging question.

In the journals

Some antidepressants may not offer much relief for people who battle both depression and a chronic disease, according to research in the Nov. 21, 2017, Journal of the American Medical Association.

Nearly half of Americans live with a chronic condition, according to the CDC, and many also suffer from depression, including more than half of Parkinson's disease patients, 41% of cancer patients, and more than 25% of those with diabetes.

Here are some signs of an alcohol use disorder — and ways to find the help you need if you suspect you're drinking too much.

 Image: © Thomas Northcut/Thinkstock

The thought of hangovers and binge drinking may conjure an image of a college-age student or a 20-something out on the town. But increasingly, those terms apply to people who probably look a lot like you.

Alcohol use problems often start innocently enough in older women. A problem may begin with a drink at night to combat insomnia, says Dr. Olivera Bogunovic, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. But then one drink turns into two, and a 9 p.m. cocktail turns into all-day drinking, she says.

Most people drink less as they grow older. However, some maintain heavy drinking patterns throughout life, and some develop problems with alcohol for the first time during their later years. The many challenges that can arise at this stage of life — reduced income, failing health, loneliness, and the loss of friends and loved ones — may cause some people to drink to escape their feelings.

Several factors combine to make drinking — even at normal levels — an increasingly risky behavior as you age. Your ability to metabolize alcohol declines. After drinking the same amount of alcohol, older people have higher blood alcohol concentrations than younger people because of such changes as a lower volume of total body water and slower rates of elimination of alcohol from the body. That means the beer or two you could drink without consequence in your 30s or 40s has more impact in your 60s or 70s.

A father struggles to understand the terrible course of his son’s heroin addiction and the loss of a child who eventually died from an accidental overdose.