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We are on the verge of a crisis in mental health. Over the next 30 years the number of chronically mentally ill people 55 years of age and older will double. With multiple disorders relating to mental illness and old age, these people will require unique services from a health care system that is ill prepared to deliver them. Schizophrenia Into Later Life: Treatment, Research, and Policy is the first major multidisciplinary reference on this important topic—a landmark work for researchers, service providers, and policy makers.
Broad in scope, it
discusses the demographic and clinical characteristics of older
schizophrenic persons, details treatment approaches, suggests research
strategies, and covers the relevant economic and health policy issues.
• The most up-to-date, comprehensive source of information on this
understudied group. It will help community psychiatrists, gerontologists,
psychologists, policy makers, and social scientists meet a growing demand
for services.
• A multidisciplinary approach with contributing experts
from fields of biological psychiatry, social psychiatry, sociology,
anthropology, social work, psychology, and neuropsychology will help
professionals integrate services for the best outcome.
• A primary
resource on the subject—sections include epidemiology, biological aspects,
psychosocial features, clinical care, and public policy.
Today there is a distressing lack of age-appropriate clinical, rehabilitative, or residential programs for older patients with chronic mental illness. Schizophrenia in Later Life: Treatment, Research, and Policy will guide researchers, service providers, and policy makers in creating innovative new programs to help this underserved and growing population.
The book is an easy read and free of jargon, and it will prove informative to mental health administrators, citizen advocates for the mentally ill, and mental health clinicians. It will be important also to many general physicians who attend the elderly, especially in nursing facilities. In a book this broad, integration across topics is difficult, but in the final chapter Cohen draws from the field of gerontology to provide an integrative model that may be used to guide future research.
— William T. Carpenter, M.D.
Regrettably, a literature review reveals that only 1 percent of the literature on schizophrenia has addressed issues of aging. Cohen's multidisciplinary reference, which aims to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge about schizophrenia in later life and to examine the implications for service, research and policy, helps fill that gap. It will serve as a guide for much-needed planning for integrated services.
This book is easy to read and deals with a broad spectrum of services needed for the comprehensive clinical care of people with schizophrenia. Thus, it will be a valuable reference to clinicians (e.g. physician, social worker, psychologist, case manager) and students as well as consumers.
— Myung A. Lee, M.D.
Cohen has edited an important book that summarizes the work and research that is proceeding in a longitudinal study of the course of schizophrenia. . . . A missing resource has been put in place with the publication of this text.
— F. M. Baker, M.D., MPH
This high quality book addresses a growing issue in psychiatry. In this book, leading thinkers lend their expertise on the subject. There will no doubt be other significant works to follow.
— Daniel Loiterstein, M.D.
For once, with a multi-author volume, I was truly appreciative of a degree of editorial diligence that has ensured true chapter complimentarity. The result is a book that I found easy to read from start to finish. I would recommend that every psychiatrist involved in the care of older people does just this. . . . Schizophrenia Into Later Life should go some way to raise awareness and concern about this enormous patient group. This book really should be on every Old Age Psychiatrist's bookshelf.
— Robert Howard
Schizophrenia Into Later Life is an important book on the consequential but neglected areas of research, service and policy for people with schizophrenia as they age. . . This comprehensive volume is valuable and recommended for anyone who works with, studies or develops policies for aging individuals with serious mental illness.
— David R. Levine, M.D.
The strength of the book lies in its exhaustive coverage of all aspects of schizophrenia throughout the lifespan to lead to greater understanding of the issues pertinent to those patients who are moving into older age. With the anticipated doubling in numbers of elderly people with chronic mental illness in the next 30 years it will become increasingly important for old age psychiatrists to be able to manage this group effectively and as a complete source this book is indispensable reading. Indeed as an in-depth overview of schizophrenia throughout the life cycle it would be valuable reading for all psychiatrists and an ideal revision source for trainees.
Carl I. Cohen, M.D., is Professor and Director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Contributors
Introduction
PART I: Epidemiology,
Historical Background, Illness Phenomenology, and Diagnostic
Issues
Chapter 1. Patterns of Care for Persons 65 Years and Older With
Schizophrenia
Chapter 2. Changes in Schizophrenia Across Time:
Paradoxes, Patterns, and Predictors
Chapter 3. A Comparison of Early-
and Late-Onset Schizophrenia
Chapter 4. Differential Diagnosis of
Psychotic Disorders in the Elderly
PART II: Biological and Medical
Aspects
Chapter 5. Biological Changes in Older Adults With
Schizophrenia
Chapter 6. Cognitive Functioning in Late-Life
Schizophrenia: Course and Correlates
Chapter 7. Medical Comorbidity in
Older Persons With Schizophrenia
PART III: Gender and Sociocultural
Aspects
Chapter 8. Gender Differences in Schizophrenia Across the Life
Span
Chapter 9. Social Vicissitudes of Schizophrenia in Later
Life
PART IV: Treatment and Service Issues
Chapter 10. What Are the
Service Needs of Aging People With Schizophrenia?
Chapter 11. Use of
Novel Antipsychotics in Older Patients With Schizophrenia
Chapter 12.
Community-Based Treatment of Schizophrenia and Other Severe Mental
Illnesses
Chapter 13. Biobehavioral Treatment and Rehabilitation for
Older Adults With Schizophrenia
Chapter 14. Changing Caregiving Needs as
Persons With Schizophrenia Grow Older
Chapter 15. Mental Health Policy
and Financing of Services for Older Adults With Severe Mental
Illness
PART V: Future Directions
Chapter 16. Toward the Development
of Theory and Research in Aging and Schizophrenia
Index