Aging and Mental Health

Fully updated and revised, this new edition of a highly successful text provides students, clinicians, and academics with a thorough introduction to aging and mental health.

The third edition of Aging and Mental Health is filled with new updates and features, including the impact of the DSM-5 on diagnosis and treatment of older adults. Like its predecessors, it uses case examples to introduce readers to the field of aging and mental health. It also provides both a synopsis of basic gerontology needed for clinical work with older adults and an analysis of several facets of aging well.

Introductory chapters are followed by a series of chapters that describe the major theoretical models used to understand mental health and mental disorders among older adults. Following entries are devoted to the major forms of mental disorders in later life, with a focus on diagnosis, assessment, and treatment issues. Finally, the book focuses on the settings and contexts of professional mental health practice and on emerging policy issues that affect research and practice. This combination of theory and practice helps readers conceptualize mental health problems in later life and negotiate the complex decisions involved with the assessment and treatment of those problems.

• Features new material on important topics including positive mental health, hoarding disorder, chronic pain, housing, caregiving, and ethical and legal concerns
• Substantially revised and updated throughout, including reference to the DSM-5
• Offers chapter-end recommendations of websites for further information
• Includes discussion questions and critical thinking questions at the end of each chapter 

Aging and Mental Health, Third Edition is an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in psychology, for service providers in psychology, psychiatry, social work, and counseling, and for clinicians who are experienced mental health service providers but who have not had much experience working specifically with older adults and their families.

Daniel L. Segal, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Sara Honn Qualls, PhD, is Kraemer Professor of Aging Studies, Professor of Psychology, and Director of the Gerontology Center at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Michael A. Smyer, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and former Provost at Bucknell University.

Preface xi

Part I Introduction 1

1 Mental Health and Aging: An Introduction 3

2 Basic Gerontology for Working with Older Adults 21

3 Psychological Bases of Positive Mental Health 45

Part II Models of Mental Health in Later Life 65

Part II Introduction 65

4 Psychodynamic Model 69
with co-author Lacey Edwards

5 Cognitive‐Behavioral Model 89

6 Stress and Coping Model 117

7 Family Systems Model 145

Part II Summary and Commentary: Choosing Among Models of Mental Disorders in Later Life 165

Part III Introduction to Mental Disorders 171

Part III Introduction 171

8 Cognitive Impairment and Neurocognitive Disorders 175

9 Major Depression and Bipolar Disorder 207

10 Serious Mental Disorders in Older Adults: Schizophrenia and Other Late‐Life Psychoses 241
Stephen J. Bartels, Karen L. Fortuna, and John A. Naslund

11 Anxiety Disorders, Hoarding Disorder, and Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder 281

12 Sexual Disorders, Sleep Disorders, and Chronic Pain 313

13 Substance‐Related Disorders and Personality Disorders 343

Part IV Settings and Contexts of Mental Health 375

Part IV Introduction 375

14 Health Services Delivery Systems 377

15 Housing, Social Services, and Mental Health 393

16 Family and Friend Relationships, and Caregiving 407

17 Ethical Issues in Work with Older Adults: Advanced Care, Financial Decision‐Making, and the Impacts of Climate Change 423

Epilogue 445

Index 447