Majority of older people suffer from phobia – forskning.se

It is far from all people with mental illness who seek help in health care. Studies of the general population is therefore the best way to find out how widespread mental illness really is.

– In our study we found that phobias in some degree affects the majority of older and more often in women than men, but only a minority have such severe phobias that one can speak of a pathological condition said Robert Sigström, researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

Participants in the population study H70 in Gothenburg were answering questions about different psychological symptoms and, based on these interviews, the incidence and prognosis of specific phobias, and depression and psychotic symptoms in older people surveyed in the thesis.

Often had the same person several types of phobias, especially those who had severe phobias. When people with severe phobias were followed until the age of 79 showed that the majority had left his phobia, but it usually became less severe. Specific Phobias, ie exaggerated fears for instance spiders, heights, flying, elevators or syringes, among the most common psychiatric conditions in the population but very few seek treatment.

– Because effective treatment is available, in the form of behavioral therapy, should future research to answer in more detail how phobias affect older people’s lives and what makes that so few seek treatment, said Robert Sigström .

More than half of the 70-year-olds who were followed also had depression in some degree, and almost one in ten was diagnosed with major depression. Half of the people with major or mild depression at age 70 had any of these conditions even later. But while the study shows how phobias became less severe with time as worsened rather than depression for many of the elderly.

– Four out of ten major depression at 75 and 79 years of age had mild depression when they were 70, which means that interventions for people with mild depression could potentially prevent many severe depressions in the elderly, says Robert Sigström.

Thesis
Psychiatric symptoms and disorders in old age: prevalence, course and Diagnostic Thresholds comes from AgeCap – center for aging and health.

Facts
The most common phobias in the study was phobias of various animals (eg, snakes, spiders, rats) and phobias of various natural phenomena (especially increasingly high altitudes but also lightning, storms and deep water). Both of these types occurred in about 40 percent of the elderly. Phobias of different situations, for example to ride the elevator, flying or confined spaces, was slightly less common, occurring in about 25 percent. Least common was phobias of blood, syringes and dentists (less than 10 percent). All types of phobias were more common among women than men. In the study of phobias included 558 pieces of 70-year-olds and 303 of these could be followed up at 75 and 79 years of age.