Constitution and the Psychiatry of Old Age

Abstract

Under the concept of constitution are subsumed the predispositions towards illness, and the resistances against illness, to which genetical make-up and environmental experience have contributed during the preceding lifetime of the individual. It is in that sense that “constitution” will be used in the rest of this paper. Old age provides a vantage-point of particular value for the study of constitution, since it is possible to examine in retrospect over a long span of time the changes and vicissitudes which have affected it.