[Factors of lonely living in old psychiatric patients]. / Faktory odinokogo prozhivaniia psikhicheski bol'nykh pozdnego vozrasta.

70 lonely patients 60-83 years old were examined. Loneliness in the disintegrated first group (54 patients) resulted from the disintegrated family (the patients were early married). The loneliness in the second group was determined by the absence of their own family (16 patients). The main factors leading to loneliness were such diseases as schizophrenia and epilepsy, paranoic disorders of persecutive character directed to the nearest family, hypochondric depression, psychopathic-like disturbances, mental defect, personality disorders in premorbid state. Among social-psychologic factors the following ones had a significance: underestimation of the mental disorders in patients by their relatives, conflicts in the family, the patient's negative orientation to marriage, their deep emotional interrelation with the parents in young and mature age, alcoholism of married couple and special psychopathic features of the relatives. The events relating with the old age (loss of elderly couple), separation with adult children and parents, bad domestic living conditions were of less significance.

[Clinical and social aspects of loneliness among elderly psychiatric patients]. / Klinicheskie i sotsial'nye aspekty odinochestva psikhicheski bol'nykh pozdnego vozrasta.

The paper presents investigation of 70 lonely patients and 170 patients living in family (older than 60 years old). Clinical characteristics (nosologic entity, syndrome) and demographic (sex, age), social-economic (housing living conditions, income) were considered. Lonely patients were younger, they had worse social, living conditions; women, schizophrenics and patients with productive syndromes, severe somatic pathology were often among them. The group of lonely patients was more homogeneous in nosologic entities, syndrome manifestations, in both demographic and social structure. Patients living in family were more heterogenous (wider spectrum of psychic disorders and larger variability of social and demographic parameters).

[Late middle-aged schizophrenic patient in the family (social-psychological problems)]. / Pozhiloi bol'noi shizofreniei v sem'e (sotsial'no-psikhologicheskie problemy).

Clinical and sociopsychological studies of 28 families have shown that the familial status and role of elderly schizophrenics are usually higher than in young patients which depends not only on the clinical course, the age at the onset of the disease and its duration but also on the structure of the family and on how well the relatives understand the nature and manifestations of disease. On reaching middle age schizophrenic males become more adaptive in the family due to the fact that in the course of the disease their psychopathlike and asocial behaviour becomes less marked. Females both young and elderly usually have a higher status although in the course of disease it tends to show a gradual lowering. The field of communication becomes more definite and is typically restricted to the spouse or daughter. Depending on the dominant factors of relations, three types of families have been identified: integrated, partially integrated and disintegrated. Disintegrated families are less common as compared with integrated ones.