ABSTRACT
This chapter will focus on four 'd's: diabetes, depression, dementia and death, the first three of which are increasingly discussed as threats: diabetes to the sustainability of affordable health services; depression to the efficiency of the workforce and the quality of family life; and dementia to the social care infrastructure, both formal and informal, and cost to the State. Diabetes, dementia and depression are all highly stigmatised conditions, which is linked to their perceived threat to our social structures. Dementia is a condition which is strongly age related. However, despite the commonly encountered assumption that most older people will have some level of dementia eventually, this is a long way from accurate. Diabetes, depression and dementia are social problems in the sense that they can be construed as a threat to social structures: the affordability of health service provision; the efficiency of the workforce; the quality of family life; and the social care infrastructure, both formal and informal.
