Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Introduction – A personal note
- Acknowledgement
- Part 1 Classification
- Part 2 General epidemiology
- Part 3 Neuroses
- Part 4 Affective disorders
- 7 The epidemiology of affective disorders in old age
- 8 The outcome of depressive illness in old age
- 9 Pseudodementia in geriatric depression
- 10 Depression in nursing and residential homes
- 11 Depression in primary care settings
- 12 Treatment of depression in the elderly
- 13 Mania in late life: conceptual and clinical issues
- 14 Suicide in the elderly
- Part 5 Psychosexual disorders
- Part 6 Substance use and abuse
- Part 7 Schizophrenia and related psychoses
- Part 8 Psychological, biological and medical issues
- Part 9 Treatment methods
- Part 10 Conclusion
- Index
11 - Depression in primary care settings
from Part 4 - Affective disorders
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Introduction – A personal note
- Acknowledgement
- Part 1 Classification
- Part 2 General epidemiology
- Part 3 Neuroses
- Part 4 Affective disorders
- 7 The epidemiology of affective disorders in old age
- 8 The outcome of depressive illness in old age
- 9 Pseudodementia in geriatric depression
- 10 Depression in nursing and residential homes
- 11 Depression in primary care settings
- 12 Treatment of depression in the elderly
- 13 Mania in late life: conceptual and clinical issues
- 14 Suicide in the elderly
- Part 5 Psychosexual disorders
- Part 6 Substance use and abuse
- Part 7 Schizophrenia and related psychoses
- Part 8 Psychological, biological and medical issues
- Part 9 Treatment methods
- Part 10 Conclusion
- Index
Summary
Introduction
It is unacceptable that treatable illnesses should mar any enjoyment that retirement may bring to an older person, or increase any burden from isolation and loss that occurs at that age. The primary care team is in an ideal position to identify and alleviate depression, a widespread and treatable disorder. This chapter addresses that task, demonstrating both the extent of the problem and possible solutions. Throughout, reference will be made to a series of studies carried out in the North London area of Gospel Oak. These studies were set up to describe mental illnesses amongst older people identified by household enumeration in an electoral ward, the use by these people of the local Health and Social Services and the outcome of interventions for treatment of mental illnesses (Livingston et al., 1990a,b).
The prevalence and nature of depression in primary care
Prevalence surveys of depression in older people have measured morbidity at three levels: Community, Primary Care and Hospital Clinic. The results are not comparable because of the large hidden morbidity in the older population that will be discovered in a community sample, the large number of cases that never reach specialist mental health resources from primary care, and the severe and resistant cases which tend to accumulate in clinics (Shepherd et al., 1966; Goldberg & Huxley, 1992). In addition, all published prevalence studies have their own idiosyncracies of case definition, sample frame and means of assessment that make differences between results hard to interpret.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Functional Psychiatric Disorders of the Elderly , pp. 163 - 176Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994
- 4
- Cited by