In the light of these findings, a high level of secrecy is not surprising, as it may be an avoidant strategy of coping, likely to be frequently used by people with limited stress coping resources, such as depressive patients. However, there are two interesting relationships; perhaps worthy of broader explorations, i.e., a decreasing frequency of secrecy in elderly patients and increasing frequency of secrecy in educated patients. The lower secrecy in the elderly may be explicable in terms of forming a specific psycho-social identity, being independent from social opinions, and reducing social contacts to people of about the same age range and with similar health problems. It is also possible that avoiding secrecy is part of a coping strategy included in the therapy plan. Health problems are one of few areas in which older patients choose active strategies of coping more frequently than other age-groups [16]. Active coping with social situations associated with depression is a strategy often suggested by therapists, and elderly patients, as more compliant than others, may simply obey it more often. Another explanation of lower secrecy
