Factors associated with 'masked' psychological illness in the elderly

In order to elucidate the 'masked' nature of psychiatric illness in the elderly, subjects attending a suburban community day centre were screened for organic and functional psychological illness and also administered an illness behaviour questionnaire. For those subjects, non-organically impaired, the probable functional psychiatric cases were compared with the other attenders. There were no differences between the groups on the scales indicating denial and psychological mindedness, but the probable cases scored significantly higher on affective inhibition, indicating a conscious suppression of feelings. These findings not only provide objective data which support the previous clinically observed 'masked' nature of psychological illness in the elderly, but also give the clinician guidance in elucidating such 'masked' illness.