1st Edition
Managing Depression, Growing Older A guide for professionals and carers
Awarded the book prize for 2012 by the Australasian Journal on Ageing!
Even when he’s grey around the muzzle, the black dog of depression can still deliver a ferocious bite. Depression can strike at any age, and it may appear for the first time as we get older, as a result of life circumstances or our genetic makeup. While older people face the same kinds of mental health issues as younger people, they can find it more difficult to deal with them owing to the stressors which accumulate with age. There is also a high incidence of undiagnosed depression in older age, presenting extra challenges for carers.
Managing Depression Growing Older offers a systematic guide to identifying depression in older people, supporting them at home or in an aged care setting, and the importance of diet, exercise and attitude in recovery. It is essential reading for anyone who works with the elderly.
Biography
Kerrie Eyers is a psychologist, teacher and editor with many years' experience in mental health, based at the Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia.
Gordon Parker is Scientia Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales and Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia. He is a renowned researcher with over 30 years' experience with mood disorders.
Henry Brodaty is Professor of Psychogeriatrics at the University of New South Wales and Director of hte Academic Department for Old Age Psychiatry at the Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals.
Perhaps surprisingly, given the topic, this is a really good read - accessible, informative and full of personal accounts as well as its more professional content. Practical but with a light touch, it combines humorous anecdotes and well-known quotes about growing old with what you need to know to diagnose and differentiate between the different types of depression - melancholic and non-melancholic - as they affect older people. ... I would recommend this book as very useful background reading for all counsellors. I learned much from it and will be returning to it for reference many time, I am sure. - Sarah Lewis, Therapy Today, March 2013
"Managing Depression, Growing Older: A Guide for Professionals and Carers provides compelling insight into a condition that commonly gets overlooked in older adults. While social stigmas and ageism create barriers for treating elders with depression, this compilation of case notes, personal stories, and clinical guidelines yields a deeper understanding when providing care for those suffering from its manifestations. In this detailed guide, the authors have artistically illustrated not only a personal perspective with countless self-reports and stories from family members but also a professional infrastructure, providing facts and expert information, making this book an easy read and difficult to put down."-Lindsey Mucia, RN, BSN, Activities, Adaptation & Aging, Volume 38, Issue 3, 2014
