Mental health and later life - John Keady

The mental health needs of older people are all too often overlooked or put down to the inevitable consequences of ageing. This textbook will make it much easier for health, social care and third sector workers to identify, treat and support the needs of this population.

The book takes an interdisciplinary team approach and sets the scene by looking at different practice contexts in the United Kingdom and the increasingly important role played by social care in addressing the mental health needs of older people. A number of more clinically focused chapters then cover:

• mental health promotion
• anxiety and depression
• ageing and psychosis
• alcohol and dual diagnosis
• dementia
• later life liaison services
• complex and enduring mood disorders.

Each clinical chapter makes use of extended and detailed case studies which illuminate the team's role in the assessment-intervention-evaluation cycle and ensure the text's application to practice. Service user and family perspectives are drawn on throughout and current practice exemplars outlined. The final chapter distils key messages from the book and sets a number of key challenges.

Mental Health and Later Life highlights the rewards and complexity of working with older people with mental health needs and their families. It is invaluable reading for all those learning about, or working with, this population.