Functional Psychiatric Disorders of the Elderly

Until recently the literature has sadly neglected the commonest disorders of old age which, lacking a demonstrable organic basis, have tended to be called 'functional'. Professor Chiu and Dr Ames provide us with the first comprehensive text to deal with all the non-dementing psychiatric disorders in a practical guide and exhaustive reference. Interfacing psychiatry and somatic medicine, and confronting the issues of co-morbidity, this text clearly outlines our core knowledge about clinical problems, discussing appropriate treatments and highlighting areas for future research. Along with case histories which bring much of the detail into lively focus, chapters are neatly cross-referenced and are rich in practical advice for multidisciplinary management strategies. A unique group of contributors of international renown includes members of a number of allied health disciplines relevant to old-age psychiatry. This text is sure to be of widespread interest to all professionals concerned with the health of older people.

Table of Contents:
List of contributors; Preface; Introduction - a personal note Tom Arie; Acknowledgement; Part I. Classification: 1. Functional psychiatric disorders in ICD 10 Norman Sartorius and T. Bedirhan Üstün; 2. The classification of functional psychiatric disorders in DSM-III-R and DSM-IV Peter Rabins and Marshal Folstein; Part II. General Epidemiology: 3. Epidemiology in the study of functional psychiatric disorders of the elderly Robin Eastwood; Part III. Neuroses: 4. Panic disorders in the elderly Fiona Judd and Graham Burrows; 5. Obsessive-compulsive disorder in the elderly John Tiller; 6. Generalized anxiety and phobic disorders James Lindesay and Sube Banerjee; Part IV. Affective Disorders: 7. The epidemiology of affective disorders in old age John Snowdon; 8. The outcome of depressive illness in old age Peter Burvill; 9. Pseudodementia in geriatric depression Rotimi Bajulaiye and George S. Alexopoulos; 10. Depression in nursing and residential homes David Ames; 11. Depression in primary care settings Martin Blanchard and Anthony Mann; 12. Treatment of depression in the elderly Henry Brodaty and Kaarin Anstey; 13. Mania in late life: conceptual and clinical issues Ken Shulman; 14. Suicide in the elderly Ajit Shah and Thirunavukarasu Ganesvaran; Part V. Psychosexual Disorders: 15. Psychosexual disorders John Kellett; Part VI. Substance Use and Abuse: 16. Substance use and abuse Stephen Ticehurst; Part VII. Schizophrenia and Related Psychoses: 17. The elderly with schizophrenia Heinz Häfner and Martin Hambrecht; 18. Late onset paranoid disorders: I. coming to terms with late paraphrenia Osvaldo Almeida, Robert Howard, Hans Förstl and Raymond Levy; II. paraphrenia, schizophrenia or? Peter Rabins and Godfrey Pearlson; 19. Community or asylum? finding a place to care for the elderly psychiatric patient Chris Gilleard; Part VIII. Psychological, Biological and Medical Issues: 20. A developmental psychology of old age Sid Williams; 21. The biology of functional psychiatric disorders Michael Philpot; 22. Brain imaging in functional psychiatric disorders of the elderly Robert Howard and Barbara Beats; 23. Medical co-morbidity: presentation in a general hospital setting Brice Pitt; 24. Psychiatric aspects of cerebro-vascular disease Peter Burvill; Part IX. Treatment Methods: 25. Geriatric psychopharmacology Brian Leonard; 26. Electro-convulsive therapy in later life Susan Benbow; 27. Family therapy Barbara Knothe and Peter McArdle; 28. Group therapy in the elderly Sanford Finkel, Paul Metler, Wendy Wasson, Karen Berte, Nancy Bailey, Diane Brauer and James Gandy; 29. Integrated psychotherapy of the elderly Joel Sadavoy; 30. Management of the treatment team in a multidisciplinary framework Edmond Chiu; 31. Occupational therapy Kristine Alexander; 32. Nursing management Jan Tinney; 33. Social work and the psychiatry of late life Elizabeth Ozanne; 34. Music therapy Ruth Bright; 35. Physiotherapy Karen Webster and Joan McMeeken; Part X. Conclusion: A concluding overview Brian Davies; Index.

About the Author :
Professor David Ames (BA, MD, FRCPsych, FRANZCP) graduated MB BS from the University of Melbourne in 1978 and trained in psychiatry at the Royal Melbourne (Australia) and Royal Free (London, UK) Hospitals (1982–7). His doctoral thesis was on the topic of depression in aged care homes. He was University of Melbourne Senior Lecturer (1989–1994), Associate Professor (1995–2005) and Professor of Psychiatry of Old Age (2005–2007), before taking up the post of Professor of Ageing and Health and Director of the National Ageing Research Institute in September 2007. He has extensive clinical experience in old age psychiatry and was director of the St Vincent's Health Aged Psychiatry Service from 2005 to 2008. David Ames has also edited the peer-reviewed Cambridge University Press journal International Psychogeriatrics (2003–2011). He has published over 145 peer-reviewed papers in academic journals and has co-edited or written 17 books. His main research interests are the early detection and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and the care of the depressed elderly.

Review :
'Overall this book is a joy to browse through, with stimulating coverage of functional psychiatric disorder in the elderly from varied viewpoints, providing solid and interesting reviews of all the main topics.' Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine