Frustration, depression, fear, anxiety, insecurity, loneliness, vacuum, dejection, self pity, sadness are some of the hallmarks of old age. This is because

1. With aging there is increasing restriction on the kind of accustomed enjoyments (e.g. sexual); and this can lead to frustration or depression.

2. The realization of the increased chances of death; (due to observation of the deaths of the contemporaries); causes alarm, concern, anxiety and excessive fear of death, diseases and debility.

3. Due to lack of job after retirement or physical inability there is always a sense of insecurity.

4. Lack of the children's company due to their being increasingly independent gives a feeling of unwantedness and loneliness, especially due to children going abroad or away from home for their jobs.

5. Since most of the people of younger age groups; have their own pre-occupations we the elderly are left out.

6. Due to generation gap; the ideas, choice, preferences and other areas of interests differ and hence the elderly are cut off from younger generation. This distance gradually increases with advancing age and leads to vacuum, dejection, self pity and sadness. Thus overall we tend to become increasingly melancholic in old age.