ABSTRACT
Anger and depression are two of the most common etiologies for uncooperativeness in a geriatric patient. Anger can result in either passive aggression toward therapy or active attempts to thwart progress. Depression, on the other hand, may simply sap the elderly patient’s motivation for change, making progress slow and sluggish, or even absent. These factors thus seem to exert opposite types of influence on a patient, with anger pushing against progress and depression pulling against positive movement. In the present case study, I want to discuss an unusual interaction between these two factors. Specifically, I will describe the use of anger as a vehicle for reducing depression-related uncooperativeness in a geriatric medical patient. I believe the technique is valuable to outline, but that it should be employed judiciously and only when more conventional methods have failed.
