In this article is examined in what way, in the Dutch medical literature, has been written about the relation between old age and psychiatry. The contents of three scientific journals, between 1900 and 1994, have been analysed. 310 Articles were selected. It was found that although the number of articles on elderly and psychiatry has been increased since 1900 there doesn't exist a relation between year of publication and the number of pages about the elderly and psychiatry. Correlational relations do exist between year and the profession of the author, the type of article, the age of the population, the sort of psychiatric disorder and the content of the articles. With the help of an exploring statistical method (HOMALS) three dimensions can be distinguished: (1) proces dimension (primary process versus organisation and policy); (2) targetgroup dimension (patients versus healthy elderly) and (3) purpose dimension (applied versus fundamental character). On the basis of these three dimensions eight different types of articles can be distinguished. These types are a product of their time; some types decrease in the course of time, others increase. In some cases there is a fluctuation.