Personality Disorders and Older Adults: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment [Hardcover]

Daniel L. Segal (Author), Frederick L. Coolidge (Author), Erlene Rosowsky (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 047164983X | ISBN-13: 978-0471649830 | Publication Date: April 21, 2006 | Edition: 1

The older adult population is booming in the United State and across the globe. With this boom comes an increase in the number of older adults who experience psychological disorders. Current estimates suggest that about 20% of older persons are diagnosable with a mental disorder: Personality disorders are among the most poorly understood, challenging, and frustrating of these disorders among older adults. This book is designed to provide scholarly and scientifically-based guidance about the diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of personality disorders to health professionals, mental health professionals, and senior service professionals who encounter personality-disordered or "difficult" older adults.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The foreword describes this book as the best of its kind in the field of personality disorders of the elderly. I fully agree and recommend it to practitioners, researchers, and educators. It should be required reading for graduate students in psychology and for those preparing for careers in mental health. It really is an outstanding book!"
—Norman Abeles (PsycCRITIQUES, August 15, 2007)

"The authors have provided a useful guide to understanding and treating older patients." (The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, volume 195, No 8, August 2007)

Review

The chapter on evolutionary theory and the development of personality disorders is especially creative and cutting-edge. "Personality Disorders and Older Adults" should be on the bookshelf of all mental health professionals who work with ‘problem’ clients in geriatric settings, and of all academics who want to understand the latest thinking on personality and dysfunction.--Victor Molinari, University of South Florida

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 332 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047164983X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471649830
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 1.1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #611,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a student's perspective..., December 18, 2006

By 

Ashley Gunn "pleasantone" (Colorado USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Personality Disorders and Older Adults: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment (Hardcover)

I read this book for an undergraduate course, and I was very pleasantly surprised by what an enjoyable read it was (as you don't generally expect that from a text book!). I found it to be very thoughtfully laid out - when one chapter would raise a question for me, I would find the answer to it in the following chapter. It presents complex concepts in such a manner that they are very easy to understand, which is always a bonus when it comes to textbooks.

My favorite aspect of the book is how extensively the topic is covered. As a psychology student, I find that other text books talk a lot about mental disorders, but do not touch on issues of diagnosis or treatment. This book does that quite well. The chapters that talk about the disorders in detail also provide case studies for each disorder - I found these to be quite helpful, making the rather stiff, cut and dry diagnostic criteria of the DSM much easier to understand and recognize.

All in all, a most enjoyable book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Personality Disorders and Older Adults, April 13, 2008

By 

J. Kremmel (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Personality Disorders and Older Adults: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment (Hardcover)

As an undergraduate student I found this book very helpful in understanding personality disorders in general as well as understanding the challenges they pose for older adults and clinicians. This book is organized in an easy to understand and comprehensive manner with case examples and sections in each chapter focusing specifically on issues relating to older adults. The authors do a good job of thoroughly covering diagnosis, assessment, and treatment for older adults and challenges that accompany each. I found this book very informative as well as interesting to read. A good book all around!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great textbook on the personality disorders, August 3, 2009

By 

D. Lannin (Iowa) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Personality Disorders and Older Adults: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment (Hardcover)

Overall, this book is very enjoyable to read. My favorite parts are the case studies because they bring the disorders to life. The other strengths of the book include its logical organization, the clear and graspable writing style, and the detailed comparison of psychological instruments available for assessment of the personality disorders.

If you're interested in learning about the personality disorders, and want to see how they affect older adults, this is a great book!