Personality Disorders in Older Adults

This book is the first comprehensive guide to assessing and treating personality disorders in later life.

Auteur

Erlene Rosowsky, Robert C. Abrams, Richard A. Zweig

Résumé
This is the first volume that focuses on the lifespan neurobehavioral factors likely to determine susceptibility to alcohol abuse and its consequences. The chapters offer careful analysis of the effects of ethanol on the fetus, the infant, the adolescent, and the adult. The authors include behavioral neuroscientists and clinical neuropsychologists. Their topics range from the neurochemical and neuroanatomical consequences of prenatal alcohol to the cognitive consequences of prenatal alcohol on preschool and school-age children. The impact of genetics on sensitivity to alcohol is considered in terms of analytic tests using techniques of behavioral genetics and molecular biology. The consequences of exposure to alcohol during breastfeeding are described in experiments with human infants. The alcoholism that develops in adulthood is analyzed through the experimental study of relapse from alcohol deprivation and assessment of neuropsychological impairments and treatment for alcoholics. Drawing on extensive research that has applied techniques from molecular neurobiology and tests of learning and memory to the clinical assessment and treatment of alcoholics. The volume answers recent questions raised by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute of Drug Abuse about the role of early experience in susceptibility to later abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Although epidemiological studies can describe the problem, solutions in terms of mechanisms that mediate these effects will be found only with the kinds of experimentally oriented approaches the chapter authors describe.

Contenu

Contents: Preface. L. Siever, Foreword. Part I: Conceptual Background.**J.F. Clarkin, L.A. Spielman, E. Klausner, Conceptual Overview of Personality Disorders in the Elderly. L. Havens, Personality and Aging: A Psychotherapist Reflects Late in His Own Life. Part II: Research and Assessment: Overview and Outcome Measures.**R.A. Zweig, J. Hillman, Personality Disorders in Adults: A Review. R.C. Abrams, S.V. Horowitz, Personality Disorders After Age 50: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Literature. T.J. Gradman, L.W. Thompson, D. Gallagher-Thompson, Personality Disorders and Treatment Outcome. P.R. Duberstein, L. Seidlitz, J.M. Lyness, Y. Conwell, Dimensional Measures and the Five-Factor Model: Clinical Implications and Research Directions. L.M. Dougherty, Determining Personality Disorders in Older Adults Through Self-Identification and Clinician Assessment. D.K. Mroczek, S.W. Hurt, W.H. Berman, Conceptual and Methodological Issues in the Assessment of Personality Disorders in Older Adults. Part III: Clinical Issues: Diagnosis and Treatment.**E. Rosowsky, The Patient-Therapist Relationship and the Psychotherapy of the Older Adult With Personality Disorder. M. Viederman, The Influence of Personality on Reactions of Older Adults to Physical Illness. J.H. Miner, Neuropsychological Contributions to Differential Diagnosis of Personality Disorder in Old Age. W.A. Myers, Personality Disorders in Older Adults: Some Issues in Psychodynamic Treatment. R.M. Goisman, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Personality Disorders, and the Elderly: Clinical and Theoretical Considerations. M. Agronin, Pharmacologic Treatment of Personality Disorders in Late Life. Part IV: Systems and Social Issues.**E. Rosowsky, M.A. Smyer, Personality Disorders and the Difficult Nursing Home Resident. V. Molinari, Ethical Issues in the Clinical Management of Older Adults With Personality Disorder. B.G. Knight, Afterword: Personality Disorders in Late Life and Public Policy: Implications of the Contextual, Cohort-Based, Maturity, Specific Challenge Model.