Attitudes to depression in hospital inpatients: a comparison between older and younger subjects

High rates of depression in medically ill inpatients have been reported, much of which goes unrecognized. Patients' own attitudes about seeking help and their beliefs about treatments may contribute to this. We examined the relationships between age, the presence of depressive symptoms and attitudes to depression in physically ill inpatients. One hundred and sixty patients in a district general hospital were recruited to the study and completed an Attitudes to Depression Questionnaire and a depression screening scale. Both older and younger patients showed attitudinal barriers to treatment. In addition to that, the older subjects were less willing to seek help and less likely to acknowledge depressive symptoms than the younger group. Educational interventions would seem to be warranted in increasing the self-awareness of depression in the elderly and encouraging patients to seek help more readily.