Depression and suicide behaviour in the aged.

Abstract

The increase in life expectancy has been a spectacular achievement of our century but this is not without new challenges. Those above the age of sixty contribute to 7 per cent of the total population of India and number about 42 million (1981 census), a figure equal to the population of a country like Spain. Their number is expected to reach 51 million in 1991. This calls for measures to tackle the problem which will definitely be one of the significant branches of Geriatrics. Depressive illness is a major area of psychopathology in the geropsychiatric territory. Depression »i ruins the lives of many old folks and kills a few either through suicide or possibly through 'turning their faces to the wall' (Pitts, 1980). This presentation is based on the material from the geropsychiatric and suicide prevention clinics. Community mental health Centre of the Institute of Psychiatry, Madurai Medical College and Government Rajaji Hospital and the Geropsychiatric survey in a semi urban area near Madurai by us (Venkoba Rao and Madhavan, 1982). The material has also been drawn from the Government of India Statistics on Suicide from the Department of Forensic Sciences, Madurai Medical College.