Geriatric depression: atypical presentations, hidden meanings.
Geriatric patients with affective illness often present with unusual or atypical symptom patterns that make diagnosis difficult. Depression may be masked as pseudodementia, somatization, or anxiety/irritability, or it may be an underlying factor in pain syndromes and alcohol abuse. In the elderly, depression may be a primary or secondary symptom of a concomitant medical condition, including thyroid disease and occult neoplasm. Common medications, including some antihypertensive agents, may also have etiologic significance.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago.
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McCullough
D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans