Schizophrenia and Psychoses in Later Life

Carl I. Cohen is SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and Director, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. He is also the founding director of the Brooklyn Alzheimer's Disease Assistance Center and the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Program. He has authored over 200 articles and three books on topics in mental illness and aging. Paul D. Meesters is a geriatric psychiatrist and tutor in geriatric psychiatry at Friesland Mental Health Services, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. He has authored over twenty articles and co-edited a book on Neuropsychiatry.

'This book is a unique compendium of the major studies of aging and schizophrenia. In this way, it provides an essential resource for current understanding of the issues involved. The effort itself involves an important and often neglected area of the mental health field. The book covers the two crucial general areas, the nature of the problem of schizophrenia in later life, and the variety of programs possible for its treatment. … This broad-reaching review reminds care-givers, clinicians, researchers, and community activists of the diversity of 'treatments' that need to be considered and evaluated for more intelligent approaches to care.' John Strauss, Yale University, Connecticut

• Part I. Epidemiology, Historical background, Illness Phenomenology, and Diagnostic Issues: 1. Epidemiology of psychotic disorders: methodological issues and empirical findings Robert Sigström and Deborah Gustafson; 2. Epidemiology of schizophrenia: patterns of care for older adults with schizophrenia Donna McAlpine and Ellen McCreedy; 3. Assessment and diagnosis of psychotic symptoms in older adults Michael Reinhardt, Dina Ghoneim, Tessa Murante, Eric Nelson, Paulina Vargas and Shifra Mincer; 4. A comparison of early and late-onset schizophrenia Dina Ghoneim; Part II. Biological, Neurocognitive, and Medical Aspects: 5. Biological changes in older persons with schizophrenia Michael Centorino and Susan Schultz; 6. Cognitive functioning in older adults with schizophrenia Tarek Rajji; 7. Medical issues in older persons with schizophrenia Frank Copeli and Carl I. Cohen; Part III. Outcome and Course: 8. Assessing outcomes in schizophrenia in later life Carl I. Cohen; 9. Positive psychiatry for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders Graham Eglit, Barton W. Palmer and Dilip V. Jeste; Part IV. Social Functioning and Mood: 10. Social functioning among older community-dwelling persons with schizophrenia Paul D. Meesters; 11. Depression and suicidality in older adults with schizophrenia John Kasckow and Aninditha Vengassery; 12. Community treatment needs Paul D. Meesters; 13. Treatment of schizophrenia and psychoses in older adults: psychopharmacological approaches Subramoniam Madhusoodanan; 14. Model programs and interventions for older adults with schizophrenia Stephen J. Bartels, Peter R. DiMilia and Heather Leutwyler; 15. Changing caregiver needs with increasing age of people with schizophrenia Harriet P. Lefley and Brian R. Ghezelaiagh; 16. Personal accounts of living with schizophrenia across a lifetime: coping strategies and subjective perspectives Tova Band-Winterstein, Hila Avieli and Peli Mushkin; 17. The care of older adults with schizophrenia in developing countries Rujvi Kamat and Samir T. Mukherjee; Part V. Health Policy and Research: Future Directions: 18. Schizophrenia in later life: public policy issues in the United States Michael B. Friedman, Lisa Furst, Paul S. Nestadt, Kimberly A. Williams and Lina Rodriguez; 19. Epilogue: controversies, conjectures, and future directions Carl I. Cohen and Paul D. Meesters.