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Elderly Mental Health: Needs*

This paper highlights the mental health needs of the elderly. It tackles the issues of their institutionalisation and community care. Rapid urbanisation in Indian society throws up special problems in elderly care. There is great evidence of a raise in morbidity, mortality, hospitalisation and loss...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Parkar, Shubhangi R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4381326/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25838727
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0973-1229.153311
Descripción
Sumario:This paper highlights the mental health needs of the elderly. It tackles the issues of their institutionalisation and community care. Rapid urbanisation in Indian society throws up special problems in elderly care. There is great evidence of a raise in morbidity, mortality, hospitalisation and loss of functional status related to common mental disorders in the elderly patients. Overlap of depression and anxiety is very common with up to almost half of the elderly patients reporting significant depressive and anxiety symptoms. Also, depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in late life. Growth in the elderly population means a direct increase in age related diseases such as dementia and poor mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, suicide and serious constraints on the quality of life among elderly individuals. The need to identify new and unmet problem areas and develop efficient therapeutic outcomes for this special population is stressed.