Psychiatric Misdiagnosis of the Elderly



Abstract

In this study we try to explore the concept of “psychiatric misdiagnosis” in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on “psychiatric misdiagnosis” and its relation with “the people of old age”. The core objective of this research is to analyze different scholarly articles that conducted the research on psychiatric misdiagnosis of the elderly patients. Nevertheless, the secondary objective of this research is to formulate effective guidelines on the basis of the analysis so that the errors related to psychiatric diagnosis may be rectified in the future nursing practice.

Psychiatric Misdiagnosis of the Elderly

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to review the scholarly journal and extract the information related to the misdiagnosis of elderly psychiatric patients. This paper aims to explore the reasons and factors behind the misdiagnosis and review the literature so that it could assists the future nurses to construct effective practices. The treatment of psychiatric disorders has been modified according to the developments in epidemiology of psychiatrists. An emphasis on the phenomenology of psychiatric disorders resulted in the development of the research diagnostic criteria. The incorporation of different diagnostic criteria into the third edition of medical and nursing practice provided a significant advancement in the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders by practicing psychiatrists. The people at the age of 65 and older in the 1990s may have experienced their first episode of psychiatric illness in 1947. The cross-national studies have revealed that the diagnosis of schizophrenic illness by American psychiatrists in contrast with British psychiatrists during the 1950s and 1970s was less effective. The case of diagnoses of older psychiatric patients before the 1970s has a greater potential for misdiagnosis.

Discussion and Analysis

In one study, treating psychiatrists diagnosed schizophrenic illness in patients who were diagnosed by the research psychiatrists as having affective disorders. Although some papers in the early 1900s questioned whether black persons could become depressed because of their "happy-go-lucky" nature such racial stereotyping has been replaced by data that demonstrate that major depressive disorder and manic depressive disorder are present in African-American patients (Hurley, 1996, 113-124). There were different studies conducted to establish the extent to which misdiagnosis was present among older psychiatric patients. These studies were constructed by taking into account all the psychiatric patients in falling in the age segment of 50 years and older (Baker, 2000, 89-98). These studies were designed to find the factors behind the ...