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Constitution and the Psychiatry of Old Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

I. C. Lodge Patch
Affiliation:
Springfield Hospital, S.W.17
F. Post
Affiliation:
The Bethlem Royal Hospital and The Maudsley Hospital, S.E.5
P. Slater
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, The Maudsley Hospital, S.E.5

Extract

Under the concept of constitution are subsumed the predispositions towards illness, and the resistances against illness, to which genetical make-up and environmental experience have contributed during the preceding lifetime of the individual. It is in that sense that “constitution” will be used in the rest of this paper. Old age provides a vantage-point of particular value for the study of constitution, since it is possible to examine in retrospect over a long span of time the changes and vicissitudes which have affected it.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1965 

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