Objective: to describe the mental health profile of the elderly registered in a Family Health Unit in the city of Recife, Pernambuco State.
Method: it was a descriptive quantitative study, conducted with 159 elderly through the scales Geriatric Depression, Resilience, Social Support, Life Satisfaction, and Positive and Negative Affects, Mini-Mental State Examination, Stressful Events Inventory and Brazil Old Age Shedule.
Results: females, young and literate elderly predominated. Most were satisfied with life, 52.2% without depressive symptoms, 68.6% without cognitive impairment, 67.9% high resilience and 95.8% high social support, but 62% of elderly with depressive symptoms showed cognitive deficit. Negative correlation was identified between depression and cognitive impairment, resilience, social support and life satisfaction.
Conclusion: assessment of these indicators identifies triggers of psychological distress, assisting the nursing staff in the development of preventive and care actions.