Circe's Terrible Island of Change

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Abstract
In old age, the relationship between physical incapacity and mental state is apparently circular; that is, degree of physiological degeneration both affects and reflects psychic state. This paper focuses on two questions: 1) To what extent do old people referred for psychiatric care differ from the general aged population in their own ratings of level of self-care? 2) To what extent do age, sex, and mental symptoms play a part in how old people referred for psychiatric care evaluate their physical activity level and health? Interviews with a sample of 140 old people referred for mental hospitalization suggest that they're neither homogeneous in their self-evaluations of health nor in ability to perform activities of daily living. There seem to be two elements that make up the pattern of self-evaluations by mentally ill old people. One of these is presence or absence of observable symptoms of mental illness. The second is the sex of the respondent. Men, regardless of mental state, feel themselves as independent more often than do women and are even more likely to stress independence when confronted by a female interviewer. The differences between men and women probably reflect sex role behavior persisting even after work and parental roles have been abandoned.