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THE DISTURBED GERIATRIC PATIENT
Author(s) -
WOLFF KURT
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1964.tb00672.x
Subject(s) - medicine , psychiatry , geriatrics , geriatric care , nursing
It is well known that the geriatric patient frequently becomes disturbed, upset, excited, quarrelsome and irritable. Consequently, he can and does become a serious management problem both inside and outside a psychiatric institution. Generally, tranquilizers are given to this kind of patient. However, most of the time the effects of such medication are of only a temporary nature. If tranquilizers are discontinued, these patients frequently relapse into their previous state of disturbed and hostile behavior. When tranquilizers are given for as long as three months without any significant improvement in the patient's disturbed behavior, it is doubtful whether this type of drug will solve the treatment problem. For this reason the author studied, over a period of five years, 100 male geriatric patients aged 65 and older who were in the Veterans Administration Hospital, Coatesville, Pennsylvania. The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of the basic cause of the psychiatric disturbances involved.