Anger in Elderly Patients with Depressive Disorders

OBJECTIVE This study was conducted to investigate anger in elderly patients with depressive disorders. METHODS The subjects included 216 elderly patients with depression and 198 controls. All subjects were assessed by the State and Trait Anger Inventory (STAXI), Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), Reaction Inventory (RI). RESULTS Elderly patients with depressive disorder showed lower levels of trait anger and anger expression on the STAXI, lower levels of verbal aggression and hostility on the AQ, and lower levels of anger reaction to the unpredictable disruption and disturbances factor, the embarrassing circumstances factor, and the personal disrespect factor on the RI than the controls. In the depression group, the severity of their depression was positively correlated with the trait anger, state anger, anger expression (except 'anger control') scores on the STAXI; the physical aggression, anger, and hostility scores on the AQ; and the anger reaction to unpredictable disruption and disturbances factor, the embarrassing circumstances factor, and the personal disrespect factor scores on the RI. However, the severity of depression negatively correlated with only anger control on the STAXI. In the linear logistic regression analysis, as there were higher levels of state anger seen in the STAXI, anger on the AQ, anger reaction to unpleasant factors on the RI, and therefore the likelihood of depression would be higher. CONCLUSION Elderly depressive patients are less likely to have anger traits and to express anger than normal elderly. However, in elderly depressive patients, the higher they have severity of depressive symptoms, the higher they reported anger experience and anger expression.