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Objective: To determine the rates of prolonged bereavement and depression among elderly patients who experience the loss of a significant other. Also, to determine whether there are significant differences between those patients, who apply to psychiatrists and to family physicians.
Method: A total of 103 subjects were selected from both the psychiatry and family medicine units at a Training and Research Hospital in Turkey. Subjects were administered a socio-demographic data form, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the Core Bereavement Items (CBI) scale. All subjects were screened for cognitive impairment and psychiatric diagnoses using the Standard Mini Mental State Examination (S-MME) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM- IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I).
Results: In the family medicine group and the psychiatry group, prolonged bereavement rates were 23.1% (nine of the thirty-nine patients) and 34.4% (twenty-two of the sixty-four patients), respectively. Thirty-one patients (48.4%) in the psychiatry group were diagnosed to have major depressive disorder and an additional twenty-one (32.8%) were diagnosed to have major depressive disorder plus prolonged bereavement. Six patients (15.4%) in the family medicine group were diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and an additional five (12.8%) were diagnosed with major depressive disorder plus prolonged bereavement.
Conclusion: Elderly patients may apply to medical departments other than psychiatry with complaints that require careful management to reduce the potential for pathology from prolonged bereavement.