Diagnosis and Treatment of Elderly Depression

Byoung Hoon Oh

doi:10.5124/jkma.2003.46.9.808

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Oh: Diagnosis and Treatment of Elderly Depression

Special Issue

Depressive Disorder

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2003; 46(9): 808-814.

Published online: 30 September 2003

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2003.46.9.808

Diagnosis and Treatment of Elderly Depression

Byoung Hoon Oh, M.D.

Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University, College of Medicine, Severance Mental Health Hospital, Korea. drobh@chollian.net

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The diagnosis and treatment of elderly depression has gained growing importance because of its major impact on the patients's wellbeing, personal, social, and familial achievements. Depressive disorders are characterized by mood-affect, thought-cognition, psychomotor activity and somatic manifestations. Especially geriatric depression is more represented by thought-cognition and somatic manifestations. And it is also associated with comorbid mental or physical conditions that may lead to a decrease in life expectancy. Diagnosis of geriatric depression consists of history taking, laboratory, neurocognitive test, brain imaging technique and genetic study. As for its treatment, physical treatment such as pharmacological treatments, electroconvulsive therapy, and phototherapy have been emphasized but should also include psychosocial intervention such as supportive, family and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.

Keywords: Elderly depression, Diagnosis, Treatment

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