[Affective disorders specific to ageing].

With time, affects evolution can lead old people to a pathological organisation of their own mental universe. A general feeling of ill-being (syndrome of ageing badly) may appears and must be differentiated from an usual depressive syndrome. Post-traumatic disorders indicate a current or an old inability to metabolise painful life events. The "syndrome de glissement" (failure-to-thrive) generate not only bedridden state often irreversible but also guilt or depressive symptoms in caregivers. Those particular forms of ageing determine the relation with the practitioner and can induce feeling of dissatisfaction or hostility.