| Summary: | Bibliography: leaf 116-135. === Depression is the most common psychopathological syndrome in the elderly (Blazer, 1982). Yet, with appropriate treatment, depressive symptoms generally have a favourable prognosis. Researchers such as Post (1972) and Zung (1980) have emphasized the importance of the premorbid personality in understanding depression and planning its effective treatment. However, personality studies are unpopular and often methodologically unsound. The present study attempts to investigate the problem of the premorbid personality in depressed elderly persons. The total number of severely and moderately depressed elderly persons found in a randomly selected community sample was matched with a group of non-depressed elderly persons on age, sex, marital status, socio-economic class, social support, type of accommodation, previous and present employment, living arrangements, physical morbidity and number of life events. The hypothesis tested was that depressed subjects would differ from non-depressed subjects on the development and functioning of their premorbid personalities.
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