THE MANAGEMENT OF DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN THE ELDERLY

The most common psychiatric disorders in later life, with the exceptio n of dementia, are depression and anxiety. Often underdiagnosed or sim ply accepted with resignation as an inevitable part of aging or as an unavoidable complication of other constitutional illnesses, these diso rders contribute to excess disability in older patients and further co mpromise their quality of life. This report discusses depression and a nxiety in the growing elderly population-its prevalence, detection met hods, diagnostic considerations, and present interventions.