Mental ailment is a significant determinant giving rise to the disease burdens of the elderly people. While the elderly people do not seem to suffer from disproportionate share of most distinct mental ailment such as depression or schizophrenia they do have a much higher prevalence of dementing ailment like Alzheimer"s disease and are subjected to enhanced rates of interpersonal losses. Irrespective of substantial rates of morbidity the proportion of older people acknowledged to be incapacitated and those really receiving sufficient treatment is remarkably low than that of the younger age groups. Deficiency in the treatment of mental illness in the elderly emerge to be a considerable factor in the enhanced suicide rates among the elderly population along with the premature or unsuitable placement of elderly persons in nursing homes. The studies on mental ailment in the elderly people has been disregarded and deserted till very recently. Even with the attention that has been accorded to the prevalence of large number of patients with Alzheimer"s disease, funding for research in relation to the incidence and distressing nature of mental ailment in the elderly continues to be insufficient. (Mental Health and the Elderly Position Statement).

             Considerable impediments prevail for the elderly in accessing and utilizing mental health services. Community based prevention programs for older people supported by federal and state funds are limited. This is combined with the absence of institutionalized consultancy and treatment programs including medication goals set particularly for older mentally impaired people. (Mental Health Services: Reaching Out to the Elderly. (Part One)) An analysis brought out in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society reveals that while the rates of diagnosis for depression for patients at an age of 65 and older was enhanced radically during the 1990s, considerable differentiations by age, ethnicity, and supplemental insurance coverage still continues in relation to the treatment for those diagnosed patients.