Psychiatric aspects of ageing

Abstract

Psychotic conditions due to structural brain disease of the senile and arteriosclerotic type are numerically less important than was formerly assumed. They account for about 25-30% of the psychiatric illnesses of the aged. Functional psychoses, particularly endogenous depressions, form an important part of these disorders. Their symptomatology and treatment are not essentially different from those of functional psychoses in the younger age groups. Among non-hospitalized old people, neurotic conditions represent the most frequently encountered type of mental disorders. Psychodynamic factors, operative in the older as well as the younger generations, and their interplay are responsible for the neurotic conditions of the elderly. These respond favourably to psychotherapy. Severe acute and subacute confusional states are caused in some aged people by physical and psychological stresses. These conditions have a serious prognosis but are amenable to proper treatment when diagnosed in time. They are the responsibility of the general practitioner and the general hospitals.