3.4 Global assessment of aging: Affective assessment

When assessing the affective sphere, it's very important to establish a patient's mood, signs of anxiety and sleep and appetite disorders.

Depression is a very common disorder in the elderly because is often associated with the loss of a spouse, family or close friends, chronic pain, loss of independence or household removals. 

Normally, it's difficult to detect in the elderly, although symptoms such as anorexia or insomnia may give us a clue. However, there are a number of scales that can help us in the assessment of depression, the Corell scale for depression in dementia, the Goldberg scale of anxiety and depression, the Hamilton Depression Inventory, and finally, the scale that I go to highlight below; the Yesavage scale of geriatric Depression.

The Yesavage scale of Geriatric Depression is specifically for the elderly. There are two versions, a 15-item, and another 5 items, both with two dichotomous responses.

I think that depression in the elderly, as well as being very common, it is easy to fix. Many seniors become depressed when they feel lonely, so, I think, that if they make frequent visits and daily call (or every other day) become interested in them, they feel more "clothed" and have a happier life.

Bibliography

• Medline. [Monografía de internet]. [Fecha de consulta 7 de abril de 2013]. Disponible en: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/ency/article/001521.htm
• Jervis, G. La depresión dos enfoques complementarios. Madrid; Editorial fundamentos: 2005.