LIFE REVIEW AND DEPRESSION AMONG RURAL AND URBAN OLDER PEOPLE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Reminiscing is an active process of recalling past events. Life review is a technique that can be helpful to older persons in clarifying their roles as family members. While older people are usually thought of as fully socialized, research on aging and the family life cycle clearly indicates that as people mature, they must continually learn to play new roles. In general people in their old age feel happy to memorize their past through reviewing rather than their apprehensive future. Among the major mental health problems faced by elderly depression is a very common problem. Depression is challenging to measure, especially in the community dwelling older adults. Reports of the prevalence of depression vary as a result. It has been commonly misrepresented that older adults 65 years and above older are the most depressed population of adults. The sample of the present investigation were 300 community living elderly men and women, random sampling technique was used to draw the subjects from rural and urban areas of Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. Life review was assessed by the Life Review questionnaire and depression was by using Depression scale. Literature suggests that very few people reminisce to solve present problems and cope with losses. Most elderly in their 80's stated that life review is the main source of getting pleasure i.e., recapitulating the past to forget the anxieties and apprehension towards their future. The results indicate that there were significantly sub group differences in age, education, location sub-groups in life review and depression. Results will be discussed in the light of psychological implications of older people.