Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2007 , Vol 10, Issue 3
ANXIETY DISORDERS IN ELDERLY PEOPLE
Ankara Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Psikiyatri Anabilim Dalı, ANKARA Old age is risky for psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety due to repeated losses. Although in clinical practice, anxiety is a frequent problem among elderly people and the treatment of anxiety is quite difficult in geriatric patients, anxiety disorders are not studied enough. Previous studies suggested that anxiety disorders are more rare among geriatric patients than in younger ones. This might be due to the different appearance of anxiety disorders in geriatric age and to the existing medical illnesses which may complicate psychiatric evaluation. Anxiety, which is accepted as a natural outcome of senility and the medical illnesses in elderly may also result with underdiagnosis of anxiety disorders.

In this paper we aimed to review the studies on anxiety disorders and their treatment among geriatric patients. Keywords : Anxiety, Elderly