This handbook covers the scientific, clinical and service background for practitioners involved in the care of older people with psychiatric disorders. Expanding older populations and increasing attention on mental disorder in old age have focused attention on the need for responsive, humane, efficient and effective services. The greatest interest has been in the identification and treatment of dementia; it has also become clear how very common the other psychiatric disorders including depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders and substance abuse are in older age. While specialist services proliferate, more general services, for example in general hospital medical teams, or adult community psychiatric services, continue to manage many older people with psychiatric illness.

This handbook provides a clear grounding in the scientific and moral basis of the speciality and up-to-date evidence on how to proceed in the most commonly encountered clinical situations in a manageable and easy-to-use format . It will be of value to specialists, to those setting up services, to non-specialists treating older patients and to students learning about these disorders. All three authors are busy clinicians in old age psychiatry as well as active teachers and researchers in this area. Through international professional and research links, they marry a UK to an international perspective.
About the Author:
Bart Sheehan is both an academic in old age psychiatry, based at Warwick Medical School, and a Consultant old age psychiatrist based in a busy community psychiatric service in Coventry. He manages older patients with all psychiatric illnesses, including dementia, in in-patient and community settings. His university work involves teaching students and clinical research into mental disorder in old age. In particular, he researches the effect of different environments and service settings on older peoples' mental health. Salman Karim completed his medical degree and adult psychiatry training in Pakistan. He trained in old age psychiatry and started his academic work in Manchester, UK. His clinical work as a consultant in old age psychiatry includes community and inpatient treatment of older people with mental health problems and dementia. As a lecturer he teaches under and post-graduate students. His research interests include Alzheimer's Disease and psychosis in older people. Alistair Burns is Professor of old age psychiatry at the University of Manchester in the UK and an Honorary Consultant old age psychiatrist in the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust (MMHSCT). He graduated in medicine in Glasgow in 1980 and trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry in London. He became the Foundation Chair of old age psychiatry in the University of Manchester in 1992, where he has been Head of the division of psychiatry and is currently a Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, with responsibility for clinical affairs. He has been Director of Research and Development in the University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Trust (UHSMT) and also Non-Executive Director and Vice-Chairman of the Hospital Board. His research and clinical interests are in mental health problems of older people, particularly dementia and Alzheimer's disease. He has published 298 papers and 23 books.