Phobic disorders affect some elderly persons but are more common among children and younger adults. Few data are available regarding the course of phobic disorders into late life. In the elderly, phobic disorders can severely inhibit social interactions. Psychologic trauma may also occur in late life, although the incidence of new-onset posttraumatic stress disorder among the elderly is low. Women are more likely than men to experience generalized anxiety disorder.
Women are more likely than men to experience obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Symptoms typically begin in late adolescence or early adulthood and recede by later life. Thus, panic attacks in the elderly are rare and, when they occur, are usually less severe than those in younger adults. The root cause of most cases of phobic disorders and anxiety states is rarely identified. Delirium often produces moderately severe anxiety and agitation, especially if the patient is in unfamiliar surroundings. Major depression may produce symptoms of anxiety and agitation, as can hypochondriasis, although the anxiety that hypochondriasis produces is usually intermittent and less severe than that produced by other psychiatric disorders.