Treating depression in an elderly patient may help the patient cope with age-related declines in physical and mental functioning, and may actually improve function. Treating depression in an elderly patient may be complex. Comorbid illness may be present, and depression may be compounded by drugs used to treat that illness. When additional medication is given to treat depression, drug interactions may result. The consequences of depression in late life are significant.
Depression usually persists longer in an elderly patient than in a younger patient.
It is often difficult to determine which is the initial illness when anxiety and depression occur together. An anxiety disorder may lead to depressive symptoms or a full-blown depressive disorder. Conversely, major depression is frequently accompanied by symptoms of anxiety, or may coincide with an independent anxiety disorder. Overlap of symptoms of the two disorders may be particularly prominent in the elderly, in whom irritability and somatization may mask mood changes. Outcomes of comorbid anxiety and depression are worse than when either illness occurs alone.