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Depression among Elderly Residents of Local-Authority Residential Homes

Its Nature and the Efficacy of Intervention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David Ames
David Ames*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, c/o PO Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, 3050, Australia; Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Pond St, London NW3 2QG
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Abstract

Of 390 residents in 12 local-authority homes for the elderly, 93 had evidence of depression on screening and underwent standard clinical assessment. Half had an affective disorder, and a further third had depressive symptoms in the setting of an organic mental disorder. The 93 residents had a high rate of physical illness and disability, undertook little social activity, and were visited infrequently. A range of interventions for depressed residents, the majority social in type, mostly proved difficult to implement. There was no evidence of efficacy of psychiatric intervention at three months; at one-year follow-up a quarter of study participants had died, and 28% of those who were reassessed for depression showed evidence of recovery.

Type
Lecture
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 156 , Issue 5 , May 1990 , pp. 667 - 675
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990 

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