Volume 70 Number 1 January 2003	back to contents

¹Associate Chairman, and ²Fellow in Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY.

Address all correspondence to Michael Serby, M.D., Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Medical Center, First Avenue at 16th Street, New York, NY 10003.

This work is based on a presentation at the Geriatric Medicine Update and Board Review at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY on October 5–8, 2001.

ABSTRACT

Depression in the elderly population is a major public health problem. It has a high prevalence, is frequently co-morbid with medical illnesses, impacts negatively on quality of life, increases the number of visits to different medical services, and carries a high risk of suicide, especially in men. Imaging studies have increased our understanding of the biological mechanisms of depression in the elderly. Depression is sometimes difficult to diagnose in the elderly. It should be differentiated from apathetic states (“negative syndrome”), and its treatment requires knowledge of specific physiological changes that occur in this age group. Geriatric depression is more somatic and less ideational than depression in other age groups. Acute treatments with various antidepressant medications, augmentation strategies, electroconvulsive treatments, and psychotherapy must be coupled with maintenance strategies to prevent recurrences, which are common.

KEYWORDS

Depression, elderly, diagnosis, treatment.

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