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The measurement of psychological problems in the elderly in general practice
Author(s) -
Vetter Norman J.,
Jones Dee A.,
Victor Christina R.,
Philip Alistair E.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.930010208
Subject(s) - neurosis , anxiety , depression (economics) , psychology , association (psychology) , clinical psychology , psychological testing , psychiatry , social class , gerontology , medicine , psychotherapist , economics , macroeconomics , political science , law
Interviews were performed on 1288 people aged 70 and over in an urban and a rural general practice. Information was obtained on standardized measures of anxiety, depression and memory loss. The people in the urban practice had higher (i.e. suggesting abnormal) scores for both anxiety and depression. Memory scores were higher in the rural area. These differences were basically constant for age, sex and social class groups. The urban environment appears to be associated with the excess of neurosis in the elderly at home but not to the organic changes associated with memory loss. There was a close association between physical disability and high scores on the psychological indices. Special attention must be paid to the elderly with physical disabilities for coexisting psychological problems.