Psychological determinants of depression in old age

The present study investigated the role of recent life events and other psychological factors relating to alienation, hopelessness, personality dimensions and religiosity in patients with first episode of depression in old age. A sample of 50 subjects who had first episode of depression at or after the age of 50 were selected from Psychiatric Centre, Jaipur along with a matched sample of 50 normal controls. They were subjected to different psychological scales viz. socio economic status, life events, alienation, hopelessness, religiosity and P.E.N. Inventory. Results of the study disclosed that life event relating to financial problems, occured with greatest frequency in old age depression as compared to normal controls. As regards to marital status, widowed were more in depressed group (30%) as compared to control group (8%). Furthermore, patients with old age depression had significantly more alienation, hopelessness, neuroticism and psychoticism as compared to their normal counterparts. They scored significantly lesser on Extroversion than the controls. No significant differences were seen in the two groups with respect to attitude toward religion. No effect of domicile was observed on different psychological variables. Significance of these findings is discussed.