The very old may feel helpless, but not depressed

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People over 100 years old may say they feel "helpless" and "worthless" because they can't do the things they used to, but that doesn't mean they're not in good spirits suggests a new study. The researchers say their findings indicate that people around 100 years old may see life differently than people 20 or 40 years their junior and traditional tests for depression may not be effective in the extremely old. "We're saying look at more of the components that make up depression," said Peter Martin, a gerontology researcher at Iowa State University and one of the study's authors. "Some may be more relevant to centenarians than others." Martin and his fellow researchers examined existing information collected...

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