Depression, anxiety, paranoid reactions, hypochondriasis, and cognitive decline of later-life inpatients

The relationships among the psychopathological states of depression, anxiety, hypochondriasis, paranoid reactions, and cognitive decline for later-life psychiatric inpatients were addressed. The relationship of these variables to life satisfaction, health, pain, and behavior was also considered. Sixty later-life (older than 55 years) psychiatric patients on an acute geropsychiatric unit were administered a battery of psychological scales; Mini Mental State, Beck Depression Inventory (somatic and psychological components), State-Trait Anxiety Scale, MMPI Paranoia scale (and Harris-Lingoes subscales), the Hypochondriasis Scale (Institutional Geriatric), Life Satisfaction Scale-Z, and self-rated pain responses. In addition, these patients were rated on the MACC-Behavioral Adjustment Scale and the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale. Results showed that there is a high degree of interrelationship among the psychopathological variables except cognition. Independent stepwise regression showed that life satisfaction was accounted for by hypochondriasis and anxiety; health, by depression; pain, by hypochondriasis; and behavior, by cognition.