Psychological Assessment And Treatment Of Older Adults

"Due to improvements in health and healthcare, the elderly population is expanding rapidly within the developed world. However, more and more elderly people require some form of psychological support at some point in their later years. The types of problems faced by this population are quite distinct and often more complex than those faced by younger adults, and throw up many new challenges - in both assessment and treatment. Within this book Knight and Pachana argue that psychological assessment needs to be more tightly integrated with therapy, especially with older adult clients. Using the Contextual Adult Lifespan Theory for Adapting Psychotherapy (CALTAP) as a framework for applying our knowledge about developmental, social contextual, and cohort/generational factors that influence age differences in response to psychological assessment and therapy, they present an integrated framework for psychological assessment and therapy with older adults."--Publisher's website.

Learn about the key issues when assessing and treating older adults with mental health problems: Expert guidance through the key topics Highlights the best assessment and treatment practices Addresses diversity, ethical, and health system issues Full of real-life case examples Resources in the appendix to test your knowledge More about the book Mental health practitioners are encountering an ever-growing number of older adults and so an up-to-date and comprehensive text addressing the special considerations that arise in the psychological assessment and treatment of this population is vital. This accessible handbook does just that by introducing the key topics that psychologists and other health professionals face when working with older adults. Each area is introduced and then the special considerations for older adults are explored, including specific ethical and healthcare system issues. The use of case examples brings the topics further to life. An important feature of the book is the interweaving of diversity issues (culture, race, sexuality, etc.) within the text to lend an inclusive, contemporary insight into these important practice components. The Pikes Peak Geropsychology Knowledge and Skill Assessment Tool is included in an appendix so readers can test their knowledge, which will be helpful for those aiming for board certification in geropsychology (ABGERO). This an ideal text for mental health professionals transitioning to work with older clients, for those wanting to improve their knowledge for their regular practice, and for trainees or young clinicians just starting out.

This book shows mental health providers how to expand their practice in order to treat older adults.

This open access book provides a comprehensive perspective on the concept of ageism, its origins, the manifestation and consequences of ageism, as well as ways to respond to and research ageism. The book represents a collaborative effort of researchers from over 20 countries and a variety of disciplines, including, psychology, sociology, gerontology, geriatrics, pharmacology, law, geography, design, engineering, policy and media studies. The contributors have collaborated to produce a truly stimulating and educating book on ageism which brings a clear overview of the state of the art in the field. The book serves as a catalyst to generate research, policy and public interest in the field of ageism and to reconstruct the image of old age and will be of interest to researchers and students in gerontology and geriatrics.

A health worker confuses an older patient's reversible brain disorder with senility--and labels it hopeless. A counselor sees a seventy-year-old woman's depression as a function of her age--and dismisses her complaints that her children don't respect her. A therapist avoids treating sexual dysfunction in a sixty-five-year-old man, mistakenly believing that treatment can't help. "Aging and Mental Disorders" should help dispel some of these too-common myths and misconceptions about the elderly. Widely acclaimed and enthusiastically reviewed, it gives professionals the knowledge and insights they need to meet the challenge of working with the aged.

Provides essential knowledge and skills for effective mental health practice with older adults.

Here is a major text in psychogeriatrics for all professionals in the field of aging and mental health. Leading authorities provide valuable insights into assessment and intervention techniques for use with the mentally impaired elderly. Topics include a depression scale for use in later life, family therapy, therapy in later life, and various issues concerning mental health care for the aged.

It is a privilege to be asked to write the foreword for so excellent a book, so timely and so much needed by the field. Not only is it most unusual these days to have a single authored volume on so broad a topic, but Dr. La Rue has done a superb job of providing both a scholarly treatise and a practical handbook. With a burgeoning elderly population and the corresponding increase in geriatric psychopathology, the needs of mental health services are exceeding by far the supply of appropriate providers. In an effort to meet this need, psychiatry, medicine, neurology, pharmacology, psychology, nursing, and social work have all made the provision of training in geriatrics and gerontology a high priority-but I fear we are losing the race. For example, multidisciplinary teams that assess, diagnose, and treat mental health disorders in elderly patients are incomplete without clinical psychologists and neuropsy chologists, and yet there is barely a handful of clinical psychologists trained in dealing with geriatric patients. We can count on our fingers the additional ones graduated each year. In hospitals, clinics, and private practices across the country, otherwise skilled psychologists are unprepared to respond to the special mental health needs of the elderly. A few CME programs are helping to address this need, but they are clearly not enough.