Age-related diseases can raise your risk of mental health issues.

• Alzheimer’s and dementia: People with dementia can get confused, anxious, and agitated later in the day. This is sundowning. As the disease gets worse, they may have agitation, irritability, angry outbursts, and even psychosis. This can include hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia.
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): Up to 50% of people with ALS will develop some changes in thinking and behavior. Some 25% of those people will develop dementia and significant changes in how they act.
• Parkinson’s disease (PD): Both Parkinson’s disease symptoms and treatment can affect mood. Up to 50% of people living with PD have anxiety and depression. Stress and mood changes can worsen PD symptoms, affecting quality of life.
• Stroke: Some 30% of people who have a stroke develop post-stroke depression right after or even months or years later. Depression may stem from your feelings about the stroke or the biochemical changes in your brain after the stroke.

If you or a loved one has one of these diseases and is struggling with mental health issues, Carilion’s geriatric psychiatry team can help. They oversee mental and behavioral health care for older adults and are based in the Center for Healthy Aging.

Aging-related mental health care includes:

• Mental health testing
• Medicines
• Talk therapy

We can also help with end-of-life planning, such as advance directives and palliative and hospice care.

Having cancer and dealing with cancer treatments can be stressful and scary. Depression affects 25% of people with cancer; you may also develop cancer-related phobias.

This includes:

• Intense worries around death
• Fear of cancer imaging (scanxiety)
• Fear cancer will get worse or come back

At Carilion, your cancer care team will include a mental health expert who specializes in treating people with cancer.

Any serious injury or illness can lead to chronic pain. Chronic pain can lead to anxiety, depression, and even substance use disorder and overdose. Chronic pain is also a risk factor for suicide.

But we can help. Carilion’s Chronic Pain Management Program includes a psychologist who oversees your care. The program includes pain medicines, acupuncture, and massage to help restore function.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause short-term and long-term brain damage and changes in thinking, behavior, and mood. This can lead to mood swings or other unusual behavior.

Our Brain Injury Center offers many treatments to help with mental health issues and changes in behavior. 

They include:

• Vagal nerve stimulation therapy
• Trigeminal nerve stimulation
• Neurorehabilitation

You can also access our brain injury support group, which is led by Carilion’s Brain Injury Center care team and the Keeley Healing Arts Program. The group uses music and rhythmic movement to help release feelings, lower stress, and improve well-being.