Physical Illness and Depression in the Elderly

Abstract

Feelings of sadness, discouragement, and hopelessness often accompany physical illness in persons of all ages. Acute and chronic medical conditions, especially those accompanied by pain and disability, can lead to alterations of highly valued patterns of behavior, diminished self-esteem, fear,

Self-Reported Depressive Symptoms Among Black and Hispanic Frail Elders: A Sociocultural Perspective

“…Specifically, among both groups, the strong association between physical illnesses and perceived health and depressive symptoms is consistent with the literature (Husaini et al, 1991;Kemp et al, 1987;Ouslander, 1982;Tran, Wright, & Chatters, 1991). The issue of the coexistence of depression with physical illness is important and complex (Ouslander, 1982).…”

“…Furthermore, some of the depressive symptoms, such as sleep disturbance and fatigue, can be the manifestations of physical illness or from drug treatments for those illnesses. A wide variety of physical illnesses can be accompanied by depressive symptoms in the elderly (Ouslander, 1982;Reifler, 1991). The two groups of ethnic minority elderly in this study were very impaired functionally and had multiple chronic medical problems, which may be one reason for an extremely high prevalence of depressive symptoms among them (86.6% of the Blacks and 96.6% of the Hispanics reported at least one depressive symptom).…”

Depression and disability in the elderly: Reciprocal relations and changes with age

“…Ouslander (1982) listed over 43 physical disorders that are more likely than others to cause depression in elderly patients. A recent review by House (1987) critically examines the evidence for a specific relationship between stroke and mood disorder.…”

Stress, Coping, and Depression Among Elderly Korean Immigrants

“…The issue of the coexistence of depression with physical illness is important and complex (Ouslander, 1982). Depressive symptoms are natural responses to physical illness.…”