Silver Minds, Stigmatized: Ageism in Mental Health

Mental health discrimination takes many forms, but one of the most insidious is how we systematically devalue older adults struggling with psychological conditions. Drawing from my lived experience with paranoid schizophrenia and as the daughter of a mother with the same condition, I've witnessed the painful intersection of ageism and mental health stigma up close.

When I turned 50 and attended my first mental health advocacy support group, I immediately felt the chill of age discrimination. Despite the wonderful work these organizations do, their focus skewed dramatically toward younger people. The unspoken message was clear: mental health resources are prioritized for those with more life ahead of them. This utilitarian approach ignores the profound truth that an older person's remaining years are arguably more precious precisely because they are fewer.

My mother's journey with schizophrenia in her later years revealed how quickly society abandons aging individuals with mental illness. As her condition worsened, complicated by anosognosia (lack of insight into her own illness), friends and family gradually disappeared. The healthcare system offered minimal support, repeatedly telling me she couldn't receive intervention unless she posed an immediate danger. Despite these challenges, her brilliant mind continued to shine. Our intellectual connection remained vibrant, providing meaningful interactions that others missed by dismissing her as merely "old and mentally ill."

Older adults navigating mental health challenges bring wisdom accumulated through decades of experience—insights into what treatments work, what coping strategies help, and how to maintain dignity through difficult times. By marginalizing these voices, we lose invaluable knowledge that could benefit mental health care for everyone. We must recognize that growth, recovery, and meaningful connection remain possible at any age.

Subscribe to my channel on YouTube (see below) and visit my website to learn more about my novel "The Overlife: A Tale of Schizophrenia" and join me in advocating for mental health care that values every person, regardless of age.

#ageism #seniorhealth #mentalillness #bekind

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Chapters

• 0:38 Introduction to Silver Minds
• 1:05 Personal Experience with Schizophrenia
• 1:40 Encountering Ageism in Mental Health
• 2:29 Supporting an Aging Mother
• 3:58 The Importance of Valuing Older Adults
• 6:08 Closing Thoughts and Call to Action

Transcript

Diana Dirkby: 0:21

Hello. Today's episode is entitled Silver Minds Stigmatized Ageism in Mental Health. Today we'll discuss older adults living with mental illness, and by older I mean those over 55,. For context, as many of you know from my podcast Schizophrenia as I Live it and my blog on my website, I live with paranoid schizophrenia, as did my mother. My novel, the Overlife A Tale of Schizophrenia, by Diana Dirkby, draws from that experience. My mother passed away at 65 from ovarian cancer. I am still here and older than 65. I hope you don't switch off because you thought I was younger. That would be a typical case of ageism. I have lived in Australia, the United Kingdom, France and the United States.

Diana Dirkby: 1:21

I moved to the USA when I married my spouse at the age of 42 and I appeared younger than my actual age. Most Americans treated me as if I were young. What does that mean, Roughly speaking? I learned that I was about half the age at which many people die off. That would be 84. My spouse, who is much older than I, is currently 82, and we both agree that he is old. He worries about my welfare. Should he die before me?

Diana Dirkby: 1:51

Independent of my mental illness, I felt ageism creep into people's attitudes toward me in the USA when I was about 50, so 55 is a generous choice. When I was at support groups within the community of mental health advocacy, I was already treated as an older adult at 50 when I went to my first meeting. Please understand me. Mental health advocacy groups do fabulous work to improve life for those who live with a mental illness. Yet I have noticed they seem much more interested in young people than in those whose next big step is retirement. It was precisely at that close to retirement age that I needed the most, and when I went to the support groups, the group made me feel that I was too old to matter.

Diana Dirkby: 2:49

I witnessed how much my mother suffered from ageism, even from within her own family. I was the only person in her life who loved her and did my utmost to assist her as she aged. At that time we lived in Australia and due to the time and effort required to help my ageing mother, my friends told me I didn't have a life. They didn't want to know my mother, so I stopped inviting them into our home. What they missed, and what all people who practice ageism on the mentally ill find hard to recognise, is that older folks still have a future those remaining years of their life are more precious because they are fewer in number than those of a younger person. They need as much support and sound medical advice as a young person. The key to this discrimination is time. A younger person has more time to live than an older person, so people consider it worthwhile to invest in that greater time. They often overlook that the past of an older person is filled with experience and knowledge, so those close to them should help preserve their good mental health to benefit from what they have to share. Older individuals are likely to apply this wisdom to their mental health challenges, making them valuable voices regarding what works and doesn't in the mental health arena.

Diana Dirkby: 4:13

My mother suffered from anosognosia, a neurological condition characterized by a lack of awareness or insight into one's own mental or physical illness or disability. She never considered herself mentally ill. Of course, this anosognosia was more than I could handle in practice, as every time I consulted a doctor, they told me that my mother had to pose a danger to herself or someone else to be admitted to a psychiatric ward. As family and friends deserted my mother, I remained grateful for all that she had given me as her daughter. It wasn't easy to live with her as her condition worsened, but it was worth it to keep the connection with the intellectual world we shared and could still share, making for many happy days despite her ongoing tragedy. My mother was a genius, and only I saw it. She was just as interesting in her older years as she was in her younger years.

Diana Dirkby: 5:15

The key reason for ageism in mental health is the belief that young people have more time to recover and that more is at stake, as they need to build careers or, at the very least, secure good jobs. In contrast, an older person who has sustained employment is approaching retirement age or receiving a pension. Their path appears clearer, provided they maintain good mental health. Therefore, younger people need more focus. That may well be true, but older people also need friends and support to ensure their final years are as valuable as possible. Thank you for watching and listening. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, enable notifications and like my videos. I'll leave my websites and social media in the episode description. I hope you have a great day.