Psychotropic drug use and the relation between social support, life events, and mental health in the elderly

This study aimed to determine if self-reported social support and life events explained differences in levels of anxiety and depression among 109 elderly psychotropic drug users compared to 90 nonusers (aged 62 to 98). Two thirds of the respondents were French-speaking, mostly female (82.1%) and widowed (57.4%), and recipients of a home care program in Montreal, Canada. The life event and social support scales, broken down by item value, did not differentiate users from nonusers, except for feelings of loneliness reported by 40% of users compared to only 16% of nonusers (p < .001). Analysis of the relation between psychiatric symptomatology and psychosocial variables, broken down by item value, showed greater sensitivity among users to perceived (subjective) lack in social support. In contrast, only "feelings of loneliness" had an effect on the level of mental health of nonusers. There was no effect with regard to objective items of social support.