Aging and Neuropsychological Assessment / Edition 1

by Asenath LaRue

Overview

It is a privilege to be asked to write the foreword for so excellent a book, so timely and so much needed by the field. Not only is it most unusual these days to have a single­ authored volume on so broad a topic, but Dr. La Rue has done a superb job of providing both a scholarly treatise and a practical handbook. With a burgeoning elderly population and the corresponding increase in geriatric psychopathology, the needs of mental health services are exceeding by far the supply of appropriate providers. In an effort to meet this need, psychiatry, medicine, neurology, pharmacology, psychology, nursing, and social work have all made the provision of training in geriatrics and gerontology a high priority-but I fear we are losing the race. For example, multidisciplinary teams that assess, diagnose, and treat mental health disorders in elderly patients are incomplete without clinical psychologists and neuropsy­ chologists, and yet there is barely a handful of clinical psychologists trained in dealing with geriatric patients. We can count on our fingers the additional ones graduated each year. In hospitals, clinics, and private practices across the country, otherwise skilled psychologists are unprepared to respond to the special mental health needs of the elderly. A few CME programs are helping to address this need, but they are clearly not enough.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306440625
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	08/31/1992
Series:	Critical Issues in Neuropsychology
Edition description:	1992
Pages:	370
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.36(d)

Table of Contents

I. Normal Aging.- 1 Introduction to Aging and Older Adults.- 2 The Aging Brain.- 3 Cognition in Normal Aging.- 4 Neuropsychological Assessment Procedures.- 5 Examples of Normal Performance.- II. Common Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders.- 6 Delirium and Dementia: An Overview.- 7 Alzheimer’s Disease.- 8 Parkinson’s Disease.- 9 Vascular Dementia.- 10 Dementia: Case Examples.- 11 Depression.- 12 Depression: Case Examples.- Appendix Age Norms for Selected Neuropsychological Tests.- References.

Editorial Reviews

Discusses changes in brain and behavior that occur in later life, and provides a guide to the psychological assessment of older patients, describing specific tests and techniques and demonstrating interpretation. Neuropsychological evaluation is emphasized, encouraging an explanation of behavior that combines hypotheses about altered brain function with social and personal factors. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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