Handbook of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies with Older Adults

Handbook of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies with Older Adults


Edited by Dolores Gallagher-Thompson, Ann M. Steffen, and Larry W. Thompson


The physical health of older individuals presents many complex issues for providers; equally challenging are the increasingly complicated mental health problems of older adults. Although behavioral and cognitive interventions have been successfully used for a variety of mental and psychological disorders, there is an ongoing need for professional training in applications of these strategies with older individuals.


The Handbook of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies with Older Adults brings together expert scientist practitioners and the full spectrum of cognitive and behavioral interventions to promote age-appropriate best practice.


The book enhances the professional’s understanding of the learning and self regulating capacities of older adults. Its consistent and easy-access format features empirical reviews, recommended cognitive and behavioral interventions specific to the problem, instructive case studies, and salient diversity issues. In their choice of topics, the editors have assembled the Handbook to fit the unique challenges of both older individuals and the practitioners working with them. Topics covered include:


Common conditions, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, and pain syndromes

Severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia

Grief and loss, family caregiving, suicidality

Underserved populations, including ethnically and culturally diverse individuals

Emerging areas of mental illness management, and effects of Medicare on practice



This is important information for use by frontline mental health professionals, including clinical psychologists, geropsychiatrists, gerontological nurses, clinical social workers, occupational therapists, and marriage and family therapists. The Handbook is also suited to graduate and advanced courses in these professions. Reflecting a rapidly developing field, this resource will open up new areas of research and inspire the next wave of treatments tailored to this rapidly expanding population.