[Apropos of a misdiagnosed form of paranoia: paranoia of the elderly]

Abstract

The expression of elements of a paranoid symptomatology (suspicion, mistrust, hostility, etc.) is frequently seen in the elderly patients. Paranoid symptom is non-specific in geronto-psychiatric practice. The association with a cognitive disorder is frequent. The relationship between this trouble and a previous paranoid personality disorder appears, according to literature, looser than in the younger patients. The paranoid behavioral pattern often stands for the elderly as a defense against feelings of inferiority and humiliation. The expression of a paranoid symptomatology is a hamper for the subject's social autonomy, as well as an actual risk factor so far as it may involve a delay in the demands for medical care. Therapeutical attitudes, reassurant and preventing the patient from a rough awareness of his deficit, seem to be useful in the alleviation of the trouble.