Document Detail


Late-life depression and the death of Queen Victoria.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21086535     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Process    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate relationships between the death of Queen Victoria and the depressive episode she experienced during the last year of her life.
METHODS: The last volume of Queen Victoria's personal Journal was reviewed from a geriatrician's perspective, tracing the onset and course of depressive symptoms from entries beginning on 17 August 1900 and ending on 13 January 1901, 9 days before her death. The Queen's own words are supplemented with observations from contemporaneous secondary sources.
RESULTS: The antecedents of Queen Victoria's late-life depression, including multiple losses, disabilities, and chronic pain, taken together with the presentation of vegetative, affective, and late cognitive symptoms, suggested the presence of a distinctively geriatric major depressive disorder. The absence of any other medical condition to explain the clinical picture seemed probable but not certain.
CONCLUSIONS: Although historians and biographers have long been aware of Queen Victoria's final depression, the emphasis has mostly been on her earlier and prolonged mourning for her husband Prince Albert. Re-examined now, the Queen's Journal suggests that a severe late-life depressive episode occurring approximately in her last 5 months contributed meaningfully to her death.
Authors:
Robert C Abrams
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  International journal of geriatric psychiatry     Volume:  25     ISSN:  1099-1166     ISO Abbreviation:  Int J Geriatr Psychiatry     Publication Date:  2010 Dec 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-11-18     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8710629     Medline TA:  Int J Geriatr Psychiatry     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1222-9     Citation Subset:  IM    
Copyright Information:
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA. rabrams@med.cornell.edu
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