ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Depression of any severity in later life often carries with it serious health consequences, including increasedmortality related to suicide andmedical illness, amplification of disability associated with medical and cognitive disorders, and increased health care costs (1-3). Although major depressive disorder is the most studied and most clearly defined depressive syndrome, other depressive syndromes and subsyndromal conditions are also associated with significant functional impairment and disability. These so-called “lesser” or nonmajor clinical categories, which have received relatively scant attention in the psychiatric literature, are of considerable importance in the geriatric population.
