The physical health of older individuals presents many complex issues for providers; equally challenging are the increasingly complicated mental health problems of older adults. Although behavioral and cognitive interventions have been successfully used for a variety of mental and psychological disorders, there is an ongoing need for professional training in applications of these strategies with older individuals.

The Handbook of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies with Older Adults brings together expert scientist practitioners and the full spectrum of cognitive and behavioral interventions to promote age-appropriate best practice.

The book enhances the professional's understanding of the learning and self regulating capacities of older adults. Its consistent and easy-access format features empirical reviews, recommended cognitive and behavioral interventions specific to the problem, instructive case studies, and salient diversity issues. In their choice of topics, the editors have assembled the Handbook to fit the unique challenges of both older individuals and the practitioners working with them. Topics covered include:

Common conditions, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, and pain syndromes
Severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia
Grief and loss, family caregiving, suicidality
Underserved populations, including ethnically and culturally diverse individuals
Emerging areas of mental illness management, and effects of Medicare on practice

This is important information for use by frontline mental health professionals, including clinical psychologists, geropsychiatrists, gerontological nurses, clinical social workers, occupational therapists, and marriage and family therapists. The Handbook is also suited to graduate and advanced courses in these professions. Reflecting a rapidly developing field, this resource will open up new areas of research and inspire the next wave of treatments tailored to this rapidly expanding population.

Auteur

Dr. Dolores Gallagher Thompson is Professor of Research in the Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine. She has been both a funded clinical researcher and a practicing geropsychologist for over 20 years, focusing her work on intervention research. In the past decade she has devoted more time to understanding the unique problems faced by ethnically and culturally diverse family caregivers, and has developed intervention programs tailored to their needs. In addition, she was one of the founding members of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy and enjoys teaching graduate students "the fundamentals" of CBT- in particular, how to implement this approach with older adults.

Dr. Ann Steffen is Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her teaching, research and clinical interests all focus on mental health and aging, with a particular focus on the development and evaluation of community-based interventions for dementia family caregivers.

Dr. Larry W. Thompson is currently Professor Emeritus from both Stanford University School of Medicine and the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology. He is also an active clinician/ mental health consultant to one of the local counties in northern CA where he has had the opportunity to work with bipolar patients and those with more severe mental disorders. Larry has authored a recent text on the use of CBT with bipolar individuals and is now working on a project to adapt CBT for use with depressed older adults of Asian ancestry particularly Chinese Americans.

Résumé
It gives me great pleasure to witness continued growth in the application of cognitive and behavioral theories and therapies to more diverse populations including, in this volume, their application to the mental health problems of later life. Evidence continues to accumulate, demonstrating that these are effective in treating a broad range of elderly patient groups. This is the first book to examine a number of these evidence-based interventions currently in use with older adults. The editors have assembled chapters developed in many of the leading clinical and clinical research programs focusing on elderly patients, both in this country and in the UK. Since the emphasis of this volume is primarily on clinical appli- tion, each author group was asked to discuss the empirical data for the treatment strategies it is using with the specific patient group selected. Typically, this was followed by a detailed description of treatment procedures that were then ill- trated by one or more clinical examples. The book begins by examining the treatment of depressive and anxiety dis- ders and then moves on to more complicated and/or serious disorders, including schizophrenia and other psychoses, suicidal behavior, personality disorders, bipolar disorders, dementia, and complicated bereavement. A chapter on the problems and issues in training therapists to use evidence-based interventions effectively is also included, along with a chapter discussing the implications of Medicare policies and guidelines for service delivery.

Contenu
Behavioral and Cognitive Treatments for Geriatric Depression: An Evidence-Based Perspective.- Treating Generalized Anxiety in a Community Setting.- Treatment of Late-Life Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Primary Care Settings.- Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Late-Life Insomnia.- A Relapse Prevention Model for Older Alcohol Abusers.- Cognitive-Behavioral Pain Management Interventions for Long-Term Care Residents with Physical and Cognitive Disabilities.- Reducing Psychosocial Distress in Family Caregivers.- Integrated Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Health Care for Older People with Serious Mental Illness.- Cognitive Therapy for Suicidal Older Adults.- Cognitive Therapy for Older People with Psychosis.- Behavioral Interventions to Improve Management of Overweight, Obesity, and Diabetes in Patients with Schizophrenia.- Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Personality Disorders in Older Adults.- Treating Persons with Dementia in Context.- Cognitive Behavioral Case Management for Depressed Low-income Older Adults.- Post-Stroke Depression and CBT with Older People.- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Older Adults with Bipolar Disorder.- Meaning Reconstruction in Later Life: Toward a Cognitive-Constructivist Approach to Grief Therapy.- PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) in Later Life.- Training of Geriatric Mental Health Providers in CBT Interventions for Older Adults.- The Role of Positive Aging in Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Older Adults.- How Medicare Shapes Behavioral Health Practice with Older Adults in the US: Issues and Recommendations for Practitioners.