Study Psychiatric disorders in old age far more common than often assumed

Depression and Co: Mental illness in old age more often than assumed
Experts have until now believed that depression is more likely to affect people of younger and middle age. However, a recent study indicates that many seniors are vulnerable to mental illness.

Expectations of performance are increasing
At the present time, stress and high performance expectations are increasing. This has an impact on us all: About one in four people suffers from a mental disorder at some point in their lives, scientists recently reported.

Although in the past the assumption was that older people were less prone to psychological problems, but a report by the Federal Statistical Office said years ago: "An estimated one-quarter of 65-year-olds and older suffers from a mental disorder of any kind, the Proportion roughly equals prevalence in middle age. Of particular importance are dementias and depression. "

In the past, depression was thought to affect people of younger and middle age. But many seniors are vulnerable to mental illness. (Image: pololia / fotolia.com)

Significantly more old people suffer from mental illness
Now, an international team of researchers coordinated by Professor dr. Martin Härter, director of the Institute and the Polyclinic for Medical Psychology at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), found out that significantly more old people suffer from mental illness than previously thought. However, inadequate diagnostic procedures often fail to recognize them.

Just two months ago, US scientists had published a study that found increasing satisfaction and improved mental health in old age. But the current investigation comes here to a different result. It contradicts the assumption that the incidence of mental illness decreases in old age.

About a third of the 65 to 85-year-old study participants had retrospectively suffered from a mental illness for one year, and around a quarter of the respondents showed a current mental illness, according to the UKE. The researchers published their results in the journal British Journal of Psychiatry.

Conventional diagnostic tools unsuitable
The new, large-scale study covered the mental health of older people in six European countries using innovative diagnostic methods. "The starting point was the assumption that the valid diagnosis methods for adults are less suitable for the diagnosis of mental illnesses in the elderly," reports study leader Prof. Härter in the press release of the UKE. As a result, older people in conventional diagnostic tools would soon lose their attention and come to the conclusion that "the questions in the previous diagnostic procedures were often quite long and complicated, which additionally caused problems for older people," reports the expert.

3,100 senior citizens examined
Together with Prof. Dr. med. Sylke Andreas, Dr. Jana Volkert and Prof. Dr. med. Holger Schulz from the UKE coordinated Prof. Härter's current studies, for which a new diagnostic tool in the form of a computer-based interview with simplified sentences was first developed. Subsequently, "3,100 people between the ages of 65 and 85 were screened in Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Israel and Switzerland using this procedure," according to UKE. The evaluations showed that a considerable proportion of the subjects suffered from mental illnesses.

Anxiety disorders and depression are particularly common in old age
"The results show a significantly higher incidence of mental illness in the elderly than previously thought," says the UKE: Thus, a third of respondents had experienced a mental illness in the past year and in a quarter of respondents had been found a current mental illness , "The most common were anxiety disorders (17 percent) and depression (14 percent), in which the respondents were diagnosed in the past year," said the University Hospital.

More psychotherapeutic services needed for the elderly
The researchers conclude that the numbers are particularly frightening, especially against the background of health services offered to older people. Better and more reliable ways are needed to determine if older people are suffering from a mental illness. This also goes hand in hand with the urgent need to establish to date almost total absence of psychotherapeutic services for older people. In any case, it is necessary to reconsider the previous evaluation of mental health in old age. (fp, ad)