Patterns of Geriatric Mental Illness

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The problems of geriatric mental illness demand increasing medical and social attention. The purposes are to clarify factors contributing to the high admission rates of elderly patients to mental hospitals, to improve the understanding of the clinical manifestations of various geriatric mental illnesses, and to determine the relative importance of medical, psychologic, and social factors in the development of geriatric mental illness. A triple diagnosis common to problem drinkers is a primary diagnosis of acute brain syndrome of a few days' duration, a secondary diagnosis of chronic brain disorder of a few months' to several years' duration, and a tertiary diagnosis of prolonged problem drinking. The acute disorder was superimposed on an underlying chronic brain disorder in 218 of the 287 cases with a primary diagnosis of acute brain syndrome. The problem of evaluating such reports depends on a critical definition of who is considered suitable for admission to the various institutions.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: