It is important that the clinician who treats older patients be aware that depression is the psychiatric symptom often encountered in the elderly and that it is as distressing in this age group as it is in younger persons. It often is reversible with prompt and appropriate treatment. (Author)

The subject of aging and depression leaves many unanswered questions which this author raises. Little is known regarding the differentiation of depressive illness from a melancholic response to the stressful aging process, and equally little regarding the natural history of depressions with onset in the teens, 20s, or 30s. (Author)