Anxiety is a normal response to threatening or stressful stimuli.
When anxiety is sufficient to cause distress or impair function, then it is pathologic. When untreated, anxiety disorders can lead to severe morbidity, including occupational and interpersonal dysfunction, other psychiatric disorders, and suicide. 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.