Background: Depression is a major problem in society and around 800 000 people in the world commit suicide yearly because of depression. Between 11 and 15 percent of the elderly are estimated to suffer from depression and many will go untreated because of stigmatization, reduced resources in health care and lack of knowledge about the disease. It is therefore important that nurses are aware of what depression is in order to identify elderly in risk zone of depression and to provide adequate nursing care.

Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate elderly people's perception of living with depression.

Method: A literature-based study based on analysis of qualitative data. Twelve articles were analyzed according to Freberg's five-step model.

Results: The result was presented in two main themes. The first one Hiking on unknown land describes how elderly experienced loneliness and how they lost control in life. The second one the battle being fought describes how negative thoughts and feelings affected elderly and how stigma affected their relations with relatives and friends.

Conclusion: The result shows that depression affects elderly's entire life situation. Depression have a negative impact on daily life which impairs their wellbeing and the stigmatization around depression causes elderly people not to seek professional health care. Therefore, elderly needs support to break the barrier to seek nursing care. Professional health personnel must use facilitate individually coping strategies to strengthen elderly´s wellbeing.