Elderly and depression.

ABSTRACT

It is believed that it is 'normal' for the elderly per sons to become depressed and many cases aren't recognized and thus lead to untold misery for the sufferers and their families. We have found that majority of the clients under study were females belonging to low socio economic status, uneducated and unemployed. Majority of the clients had moderate depression (58%), And about 19% of them had severe depression. The problems related to subjective depressive feelings were investigated through a structured questionnaire surveyed among 100 elderly clients in Udhyava Village of Udupi district. We conclude that there is a significant relationship between family--friend relationships and depressive feelings of aged people.