In these cases, which represent less than 10 per cent of senile psychotic reactions, the patient becomes not only intellectually impoverished, but is subject to persistent depression and agitation. He wrings his hands, bemoans his lot, claims he is a useless burden whom nobody wants. These symptoms are usually accompanied by hypochondriacal delusions which frequently take the form of fear of cancer, syphilis, or other dread diseases. Some patients are afflicted with delusions of poverty, insisting that they are headed for the poorhouse. Other common symptoms are delusions of unpardonable sin and nihilistic delusions— the belief that their blood has ceased to circulate, that they have no pulse or stomach, that they are dead, or that all their relatives have died. Some of these patients develop suicidal impulses, which must be guarded against. See AGITATION, DEPRESSION, HYPOCHONDRIASIS, DELUSION.