title: [Apropos of a misdiagnosed form of paranoia: paranoia of the elderly].
abstract: The expression of elements of a paranoid symptomatology (suspicion, mistrust, hostility, etc.) is frequently seen in the elderly patients. Paranoid symptom is non-specific in geronto-psychiatric practice. The association with a cognitive disorder is frequent. The relationship between this trouble and a previous paranoid personality disorder appears, according to literature, looser than in the younger patients. The paranoid behavioral pattern often stands for the elderly as a defense against feelings of inferiority and humiliation. The expression of a paranoid symptomatology is a hamper for the subject's social autonomy, as well as an actual risk factor so far as it may involve a delay in the demands for medical care. Therapeutical attitudes, reassurant and preventing the patient from a rough awareness of his deficit, seem to be useful in the alleviation of the trouble.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Castro
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over / Q000523:psychology; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010259:Paranoid Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D010260:Paranoid Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011385:Projection; D012307:Risk Factors; D012803:Sick Role; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012931:Social Environment
vernacular_title: A propos d'une forme méconnue de la paranoïa: la paranoïa de l'âgé.