ALTERATION OF MOOD: ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

From around 50+, anxiety and persistent negative thoughts about the ageing process can be a problem. Fear of ageing is contagious and is made worse, particularly for women, by the current emphasis on physical appearance and the cult of youth. These may make you reluctant to go to the cinema, theatre or restaurants that are popular with younger people. If you experience such problems then there are options. Psychotherapy can be useful for individuals if they think that their unhappiness is due to painful childhood or adult experiences. Cognitive therapy, which teaches you to substitute positive thoughts and outlook for negative ones, is a great way to learn how to be optimistic.

Depressive Illness
This is less common in the fifth and sixth decades than at other times of life. Depression is not the same as bereavement and grief, which are normal reactions of distress and sorrow resulting from loss of a loved one or a cherished and important aspect of life. In general, these feelings resolve with time, but if, as occasionally happens, they persist and result in depression, then professional help should be sought.

Worry
Some people are born worries while others find that at 50+ they start to worry more than they previously did. A good way to counter this is to think about all the things that you have worried about in the past but which never happened - or if they did happen, how you rose to the occasion and overcame them. Most worrying is unnecessary, and it is important not to waste time and effort over things that you cannot influence or change.

Grow A Little Optimism
Unlike stress management, which is a way of dealing with problems as they arise, optimism is a more fundamental attitude to life that you may or may not be born with. But, as experts have discovered, optimism can be cultivated and this is worth tryig because optimists have a better quality of life and live longer, even when they have the illnesses as pessimists.

Think, Speak And Act Optimistically
This may seem a bit phony when pessimism is your natural inclination, but if you persist a more optimistic frame of mind will grow because we can influence the way we feel by acting as we would like to feel. In fact, neuroscientists cannot tell the difference in brain activity between people who are genuinely sad and people who make themselves think sad thoughts. If you act optimistically you will find yourself:

• Actively planning the best way to deal with your problems.
• Asking for advice when you need it, and trusting that you will obtain it.
• Getting help if you need it by asking your doctor for a referral to a therapist or for a medication that can make you ffel better so you can pursue psychotherapy or cognitive therapy.
• Accepting that something upsetting has happened, rather than denying it.
• Trying to learn from distressing experiences.
• Replacing the tendency to worry by saving your energy to deal with real crisis as they occur.

Talking To Yourself And Listening To What You say!
We all talk to ourselves all the time. We anticipate what will happen, or how things will turn out if we take alternative courses of action. It takes a little discipline to monitor these conversations and inject some positive thoughts, such as good advice we may have been given. Even if you have had a bad days, you can always forgive yourself and plan to do better tomorrow rather than bemoaning your failure.