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Until recently, medical literature has sadly neglected the commonest psychiatric disorders of old age. This volume neatly remedies that situation by providing a comprehensive reference and thorough practical guide to all the psychiatric disorders of the elderly not known to be caused by organic disease. Weaving together psychiatry and somatic medicine, the volume covers neuroses, affective disorders, substance abuse, psychosexual disorders, schizophrenia, epidemiology and treatment methods. Along with case histories that bring much of the detail into lively focus, the chapters are fully cross-referenced and are rich in practical advice on multidisciplinary management strategies. This first exhaustive text on the psychiatry of old age will be of great interest to all professionals concerned with the health of older people, including psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, nurses, doctors of geriatrics and health care administrators.
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' It is a pleasure to introduce a book which I have found both good reading and a stimulus to think more about the non-organic mental misery which is so common and often so remediable, in old age. I see this volume as a timely exercise in stocktaking. Depression, not dementia is still the commonest mental disorder of old age.' From the foreword by Tom Arie. Psychiatry in old age is no longer a field solely concerned with the ' Everest of Dementia'. Until now, however, the literature has sadly neglected the broad field of mental illness in the elderly which, lacking a demonstrable organic basis, has tended to be called 'functional'. Professor Chiu and Dr Ames provide us with the first comprehensive text to deal with all the nondementing psychiatric disorders in a practical guide with exhaustive reference for practitioners from all clinical disciplines related to geriatric psychiatry. ' It is the functional illness in the elderly that we should be able to help now. This text clearly outlines our 'core knowledge' about the clinical problems, discusses appropriate treatments and also describes gaps in the knowledge where future research is needed'. From the concluding overview by Brian Davies. This multidisciplinary work is of international significance. It links psychiatry and somatic medicine and confronts issues of comorbidity. Mood disorders are the commonest psychiatric illnesses encountered in the elderly and as such they receive the greatest coverage, but the text also focuses on the controversial area of late life paranoid disorder and schizophrenia, the neglected field of neurosis in old age and the emerging problem of substance abuse in the older patient. Several chapters feature case histories to bring the subject into lively focus. All chapters are neatly cross-referenced and rich in practical advice for the multidisiplinary team.
FUNCTIONAL PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS OF THE ELDERLY
FUNCTIONAL PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS OF THE ELDERLY Edited by
EDMOND CHIU Academic Unit in Psychiatry of Old Age, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
DAVID AMES Academic Unit in Psychiatry of Old Age, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521431606 © Cambridge University Press 1994 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1994 This