Geriatric Psychiatry Basics
Kenneth Sakauye, M.D.
Praise for Geriatric Psychiatry Basics:
"[F]amily members will also benefit from this practical guide that includes information on understanding or monitoring care for their loves ones, and different issues and modalities for treatment."
—NAMI Advocate
Overview—Contents—Excerpt
Doctors who know something about working with the elderly are in greater demand than ever before. This is also true in psychiatry, where the number of geriatric psychiatry specialists falls far short of the need. Because of this unbalance, general psychiatrists—many of whom have little or no training or experience in dealing with older adults and their specific issues—are now being called upon to offer care to this population.
In this book, Sakauye covers issues fundamental to the field of geriatric psychiatry that are not addressed well in general adult training:
• Late-life development
• Biology of aging
• Common medical illnesses associated with aging
• Neurobiology of degenerative disorders
• Geriatric psychopharmacology
• Psychotherapeutic modifications for special populations, such as patients with cognitive impairment
• Multidisciplinary care and family involvement
• Specific studies of older adults as a special population (differences)
While specialists will find it a useful resource for brushing up on fundamentals, Geriatric Psychiatry Basics is the ideal handbook for non-specialists who need a quick reference or primer on the issues central to geriatric care. In it, Sakauye, a geriatric psychiatrist who worked closely with the elderly victims of Hurricane Katrina, explores the most commonly encountered issues and problems—from memory impairment, Alzheimer’s, delirium, dementia, and cognitive disorders, to depression, psychosis, anxiety, substance abuse, somatoform, and sleep disorders.
Assessment, diagnosis, and treatment options, including pharmacotherapy, are addressed for each presenting problem, and “clinical pearls”—nuggets of critical information, common pitfalls, differentiation protocols between normal and abnormal behavior, etc.—are clearly addressed. The use of psychotherapeutic interventions for older adults as well as psychiatric care in nursing homes and other inpatient facilities is also explained, making this an immensely practical and user-friendly handbook for all mental health professionals on how to deliver proper geriatric mental health services.
Contents
Preface
1. Introduction: Successful Aging and Application of the Biopsychosocial Model
2. Geriatric Psychopharmacology: Clinical Considerations
3. Dementias: Cognitive Aspects
4. Dementias: Behavioral Management
5. Mood Disorders
6. Psychosis
7. Anxiety Disorders
8. Sleep Disorders
9. Somatoform Disorders
10. Psychotherapy with the Elderly
11. Psychiatry in Nursing Home and Inpatient Care
Appendix 1: Clinical Assessment Forms
Appendix 2: Recommended Reading
References
Excerpt
From Geriatric Psychiatry Basics:
A central question about aging is which changes are normal and which are related to disease processes? For example, is the tendency of many older adults to reminisce and repeat themselves a normal process of a life review in consolidating their sense of self as roles and health change, or is it an early sign of dementia? Cultural differences of normal aging add to the complexity. For example, Hispanics from lower socioeconomic (SES) strata (lower education and unskilled labor) often view the 50s as old, whereas middle-class Northern European Americans tend to view the 80s as old age. Many older patients say that they have “old-timers disease” for what they view as normal memory loss with age. Defining “normal aging” can be an ambiguous task.
The first rule in geriatric psychiatry is that just because something happens frequently does not make it normal. For example, Alzheimer’s disease may occur in almost 50% of older adults by their mid-80s, but it is still not normal, and it is a potentially treatable disease. Similarly, behavior disturbances that occur with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is never “normal,” even though behavioral problems occur in possibly 85% of AD patients. Living to 100 in good physical and mental health might be rare, but it is still “normal.”
About the Author
Keneth Sakauye, M.D., is Professor and Vice Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine in Memphis. He is also Director of Geriatric Psychiatry Services for a consortium of teaching hospitals in the Memphis area. Recipient of the 2005 American Psychiatric Association’s Career Achievement Award, he is secretary treasurer and board member of the America Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP). He has been co-editor of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and has written extensively for Geriatric Times and Psychiatric Times.
ISBN 10: 0-393-70501-3
ISBN 13: 978-0-393-70501-0
2008 / 256 pages / paperback
