 I am Dr. Murli Raj, I am currently head of department of psychiatry here and I practice clinical psychiatry at the Manipal Hospital. Older people are more prone to depression for several reasons. One would be social, socially they are more isolated, other would be physical. Many of the older people have physical disabilities, difficulty in walking and less of a social circle than when you are younger. Older people also tend to feel more rejected by nature, which may or may not be partly imaginary but still. So when they do have depression very often, their thinking becomes slowed down, its almost like if sometimes they can't even recognize the friends and relatives, they cannot even remember what happened in the past, they are very slow in actions, they are more prone to falls for example, but all this can be overcome with very safe and effective medication and they could lead a healthy normal life if its recognized, especially recognized early.