[Inappropriate drug use in elderly patients. Considerations on various psychologic aspects]

The paper examines the hypothesis that inappropriate drug taking by elderly patients may be related to particular psychological motivations. On the one hand, this may aim to confirm their own "status" as patients for the secondary advantages brought about by illness (attention from other members of the family), even through the use of drugs, and, on the other, the excessive use of drug treatment might represent an attempt to obtain revenge on a society which has isolated them or be the consequence of insufficient attention by the prescribing doctor to their relational problems. It is hoped that greater attention paid by the doctor to these problems may improve the method with which drugs are taken.