Reviews (1)

BY FAR the MOST HELPFUL book I've read on the subject
I've TENS of books on the subject (my mother was diagnosed) and this single book has been more helpful than the whole lot combined. I'm on the website now buying copies for all the members of my family and was surprised that no one else had reviewed this book. It has been indescribably informative, useful, comforting, and responsible for creating more peace for my family than you could imagine. Alzheimers is a horrible, heart-breaking disease; this single book has been singularly helpful to us in dealing with the challenges and choices we now face. ... Read more

Book Description

The Fifth Edition of the Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences reflects the growth of ideas, information, and research literature in the social aspects of aging. Building upon the first four editions, the Handbook is substantially expanded with eleven new topics, including the demography of aging, the social psychology of health, social support, chronic care, and role transitions in aging. Fourteen additional chapters on the main avenues of research in social science and aging round out the volume. Intended for use by researchers, professional practitioners, and students in the field of aging, the Handbook is divided into four sections, covering theory and research methodology, aging and social structure, social factors and social institutions associated with aging, and social interventions. Suitable as both a textbook and a reference tool, the Handbook is a comprehensive source for information on aging and the social sciences. ... Read more

Book Description

Handbook of Counseling and Psychotherapy with Older Adults

Older adults are the fastest-growing segment of society and are entering therapy at an unprecedented rate. Editor Michael Duffy has brought together leading experts in geropsychology and older adult counseling to discuss and offer practice strategies appropriate for this diverse population. The Handbook covers new research findings for clinical treatment, coverage of multiple treatment modalities, and clinical problems confronting older clients, including:

• Adjusting to role loss, leisure in late life, and retirement
• Developmental issues in psychotherapy with older men
• Existential issues of hope and meaning in late life therapy
• Developing and enhancing the therapeutic alliance with older clients
• The impact of cultural differences in psychotherapy with older clients
• Using reminiscence and life review as natural therapeutic strategies in groups
• Integrated group approaches with early stage Alzheimer's and their families
• Family disruption after nursing home placement of onset of dementia patients: systemic dynamics and treatment
• Realizing power in intergenerational family hierarchies: when older adults decline

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Updated with the newest information on Alzheimer's Disease and dementia, this bestselling book has remained the "bible" for families who are giving care toafflicted loved ones. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

This book is for your Entire Family; it is a survival guide.
When our family first learned that our Mother had Alzheimer disease, we were devastated. After we all read "The 36-Hour Day", there was a great deal of relief. Although Alzhemier and other dementing illnesses can seem catastrophic, this book reads like a freindly family doctor givng you straight forward, no-nonsense advice. It covers all aspects of dealing with the family member, from explaining just what dementia is and how it can appear, to how you can deal with it appropriately without losing your patience or embarrasing your family member. Medical help, daily care, medical problems, behavior, mood, legal issues, common compassion and basic 'rules of thumb' are thoroughly covered. Several "examples" of previous family incidents are mentioned with thoughts on how to address each and every one. Great care has been crafted into this book and I highly recommend it. You will feel better, thus making the family member you are helping feel better.

Provides direction and help for caretakers and loved ones
A truly remarkable book. It is well written, and very easy to read and follow, providing a background in this disease and what can/will happen to those afflicted. Providing extremely helpful insights and strategies for those of us who are caregivers, spouses, sons, daughters, and other family and friends. Personally, this book helped me to understand what was happening to my mother, helped me to be more understanding and less frustrated and annoyed with her. This book provides a great deal of insight and allows the reader to get a "feel" for the current situation and possible future situations. I have recommended this book to my personal physician to pass along to her other patients who may be in the same position as I am.

The Answers I Have Been Searching For
It doesn't give medical advice, it doesn't give technical advice, although it provides resources for seeking such advice. What it does give are explanations and insights into the thinking of brain impaired persons, explanations for their behaviors, and advice on how to manage and cope with being their caregiver.

These are exactly the answers I have been searching for. So many of my father's actions, reactions and behaviors are profiled in this book, and it's becoming clear that his decline had started many years ago with smaller incidents that we as his family had dismissed. The path of progression can be tracked, and even predicted. It will be helpful to know what's coming next and be prepared. But most important to me is the understanding of why. Being able to understand the why of his behavior helps me a great deal in being able to let go of the anger and to cope better with the situation that has recently escalated to horrific.

In trying to manage the situation I have started taking anti-anxiety meds, as well as antidepressants and high blood pressure med. I have done all that I can to make changes within myself, yet things have gotten progressively worse. I am beginning to understand that these changes have been part of the problem in a sense in that I have become "unpredictable" to him in not reacting the way he expects me to.

A Fairly Clinical Approach to Alzheimer's Caregiving
More than 3 million Americans are currently over 80 years old, and their numbers are expected to double by 2025. As the number of very old expands, the incidence of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia will increase proportionately. Already at least 1 in 4 Americans cares for an elderly relative; in just a few years, a greater proportion will assume the mantle of caregiver to a dementia patient.

I do not find this thought comfortable, nor did I find The 36-Hour Day comfortable reading. As the caregiver of an elderly person with Alzheimer's, I found this volume helpful with specific problems that often accompany Alzheimer's disease but much in need of updating in other areas, such as caring for the caregiver. Going to a counselor or buying a new dress may have been reasonable options in 1999. For many caregivers in 2004, they are too expensive to be considered.

Recommended primarily as an overview of what to expect with specific dementia-related problems.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Caregiving
Highly recommended, an excellent resource, a must-have when beginning the caregiving journey with a loved one with dementia. This book has been out for many years, is updated often, and continues to be one of the very best. It was one of the books that helped me when I had to care for my parents, both with dementia, and inspired me to write my own book, Elder Rage. ... Read more

Book Description

This pioneering text is the only book to comprehensively explore both research and practice in the psychology of aging and to bring home the actual aging experience through the use of innovative narrative accounts. Because she limits coverage to the older years, Janet Belsky's text is able to offer an in-depth portrait of all aspects of the field--from traditional research, to concrete applications, to the crucial issues we as a society face as our population ages. With chapters constructed to unfold like a novel, this third edition of THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AGING genuinely integrates the field, highlighting the interconnections between concepts, research, and applications. These interconnections offer students a sense of an evolving, coherent discipline. The book is carefully planned to bring home how research applies to real lives. Belsky skillfully uses personal examples to highlight how concepts apply to people, and goes beyond the research to conduct her own interviews with aging professionals and older adults. Scholarly, research-oriented, and intellectually stimulating, THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AGING, offers a rare, inside glimpse into the field of aging and the aging experience as it is actually lived. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

very helpful textbook
I've been studying for a "psychology of aging" exam, & used Dr.Belsky's book to help with my studying: it proved to be of great help, especially because the whole book is written in a narrative, conversational way, which helps the reader. All the major developments in aging are contained in the book: historical, basic information on gerontology & geropsychology, lots of "life-span approach" information, & all that is needed to understand how the (relatively new) field of gerontology came to expand & become a field that is now growing at a quick pace.

There's also a lot of up-to-date information, all the new findings & ideas in the field, which help to see how gerontology has started to change the aging process: lots of these changes are described in the book, things like new ways of measuring cognitive skills, the emotional changes in the older population, & the dying process & how to help make it more humane. Needless to say, this textbook contains many "aging in process" vignettes, which graphically describe real problems & real situations of real people...there are also many figures & graphs, which help the student understand the research & put it in context. All in all, a very helpful textbook. ... Read more

Book Description

The standard reference work in the field of geriatric psychiatry. From the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, an invaluable reference collection covering the entire field of geriatric psychiatry. Each of the thirty-nine chapters is authored by a key leader in the field and organized in five sections: the aging process; principles of evaluation and diagnosis; psychiatric disorders of the elderly; treatment; and medical-legal, ethical, and financial issues. ... Read more

Book Description

Mature consumers do not have the same reaction to medications as younger adults. Yet, too often, manufacturers, pharmacists, caregivers, and older adults themselves, are unaware of how medications can act and interact in seniors.

Drawing from decades of pharmacological experience, the authors of this comprehensive, easy-to-use book provide detailed information and answers to the most important questions concerning a wide range of prescription and non-prescription drugs.

Book Description

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Comprehensive text of physical therapy in the elderly, for the entry-level student or clinicians new to geriatric therapy. Special topics include the social context of geriatric care, and the older athlete. Illustrated. 28 U.S. contributors. DNLM: Physical Therapy - in old age. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A basic text
This textbook is a very basic guide through the changes physiologically that occur through aging and associated diseases and more information. I work as a physical therapist in an acute setting where all of my patients are elderly. I have never refered to this book. It has a few good chapters to read and can supplement any learning that has occurred in the classroom, but overall is not a necessary text. ... Read more

Book Description

For most of human history, life expectancy was remarkably stable at about 30-40 years. Within the past 150 years, however, medical advances have virtually doubled that number. The world's elderly population is growing at 2.4% per year, faster than the rest of the population, with disproportionate increases expected to continue as newer and better treatments are found that minimize the disabilities associated with advanced age. Key to improving the health and quality of life of the elderly is understanding and treating the brain diseases and behavioral disorders that become highly prevalent with age. Geriatric neuropsychiatry is an integrative specialty that draws from many diverse fields, including psychiatry, neurology, neuroscience, and geriatrics. It provides expertise on how to distinguish normal age-related changes from those of disease and disordered brain function. Edited by two eminent practitioners and educators, this wide-ranging textbook's 41 chapters are divided into five major sections: * Introduction to Geriatric Neuropsychiatry-Introduces the field, including the epidemiology of aging and its array of interacting and accumulating disadvantages, the neurobiology of aging, and the neurobiological basis of behavior * Neuropsychiatric Assessment of the Elderly-Describes how to ensure early, accurate diagnoses, using both the fundamental cognitive skills evaluation and the more in-depth neuropsychological evaluation; age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) and its biological bases; anatomic imaging of age-related changes in brain morphology; and the latest imaging techniques that allow visualization of brain function in vivo * Neuropsychiatric Aspects of Psychiatric Disorders in the Elderly-Covers everything from affective and anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and psychoses that start late in life to sleep disorders, delirium, pain, contemporary personality psychology, mental retardation, and aggression * Neuropsychiatric Aspects of Neurological Disease in the Elderly-Focuses on diseases such as nondegenerative dementing disorders, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, hyperkinetic movement disorders, stroke, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury, concluding with medical illnesses and therapies * Principles of Neuropsychiatric Treatment of the Elderly-Discusses the effect of age in geriatric neuropsychopharmacology, psychopharmacology, ECT, psychosocial therapies, neuropsychiatry in nursing homes, genetic interventions, rehabilitation, ethical issues, and competency and related forensic issues Exhaustively researched and annotated, the American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Geriatric Neuropsychiatry, Second Edition provides a definitive core reference for psychiatry and neurology residents, particularly those pursuing a specialty in geriatrics, and for graduate students in psychology, neuropsychology, and related fields. ... Read more

Book Description

This new edition of Brocklehurst's Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology builds on the structure and content of previous editions. Four sections cover gerontology, clinical geriatric medicine, problem-based geriatrics, and health systems and geriatric medicine. The most important feature of this new edition is the increased emphasis on clinical practice - practicing geriatricians will be able to turn to Brocklehurst's Sixth Edition and easily find the answer to both common and rarer clinical problems. ... Read more

Book Description

The most up-to-date source of clinically focused information on the medical care of the increasing elderly population. This text features relevant diagnostic and treatment content needed by every provider of healthcare to older adults. The text covers the major diseases and disorders of the elderly with particular attention to the care of the elderly. ... Read more

Book Description

This completely revised text addresses assessment technology used by health care professionals, social workers, and researchers working with a wide variety of elderly populations including hospitalized elderly, nursing home residents, and those receiving home care services, emphasis on the multidisciplinary functions of the assessment team and the inclusion of new chapters on ethnicity and assessment and driving assessment. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Very helpful for concrete objective documentation
We have begun using the tools in this handbook to move us from subjective observations in our documentation regarding our clients to a more concrete and objective format. The explanations of the tools, how they should be used and reliability factors have been very useful in the justification for use and the education of proper administration and use. ... Read more

Book Description

This comprehensive text continues its tradition of presenting the latest in diagnosis and management of disorders affecting the elderly. Featuring experts from geriatric medicine and gerontology, this text provides a uniquely holistic approach for elder care. The new Fifth Edition has been significantly reorganized to enhance geriatric assessment skills, general medical management, management of specific diseases, surgical management, gender issues in clinical geriatrics, and more. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

media version
I would like to find out if you have a CD-ROM or on-line of the newest version "Principles of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology"?
Thank you in advance for your response.

This is the best single textbook on geriatrics.
The fourth edition of this classic text is now available and it is even better than previous editions. Many chapters have been rewritten and new authors add significantly to the current edition. ... Read more

Book Description

Following in the ground-breaking tradition of Our Bodies, Ourselves, Paula B. Doress-Worters and Diana Laskin Siegal address the needs of the growing number of women over the age of forty. This new and revised edition of the bestselling Ourselves, Growing Older includes new chapters on menopause and reform of the medical care system as well as extensive updates on housing issues, HIV/AIDS, cosmetic surgery, and breast cancer.

The New Ourselves, Growing Older takes a positive, empowering approach to the physical and emotional health and social welt-being of midlife and older women by providing frank and complete information on personal health.

Emphasizing the positive potential of the second half of life, this book focuses on a vast array of topics, including:

* Aging and Well-Being
* Reassessing Our Body Image
* Contraception and Childbearing at Midlife
* Sexuality in the Middle and Later Years
* Menopause: Experiencing Our Change of Life
* Reform of the Medical Care System
* Hypertension, Diabetes, Hysterectomy
* Osteoporosis, Arthritis, Cancer
* Hosing Alternatives, Work and Retirement, Money Matters

Drawing on the experiences of scores of women from every walk of life, The New Ourselves, Growing Older not only draws on the work of experts but also listens to the voices of women themselves. The result is a document of unique power -- a guide to health and living that is authoritative, reassuring and sympathetic. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Ourselves, growing Older
This is truely the one comprehensive and excellent book for older women's issues - health (mental and physical), lifestyle and planning for retirement years and beyond. It is clearly written and will be very valuable both in money saved and research based advice. It is a reference book for the life of an older woman.

A Splendid Book
This book should be on the hands of every growing and conscious woman. Usually, we take so much care of others, that forget about ourselves.
When menopause arrives sometimes it overwhelms us because there are so many changes taking place at the same time.In my case there were more changes between my 48 to 53 years, than the rest of my adult life( between 20 to 40). And that`s too much.
This book is about giving us the caring and love we deserve. We are the life givers of humanity !!!! So buy this book and you will treasure it as a gift of love to yourself.

The Book You Want Your Mom to Have
After all those well-intentioned your-body-is-changing books your mother foisted on you years ago, here's a chance to return the favor. Like the rest of the Our Bodies series, this is a book that you want to have and keep and share.

what a great accomplishment for women's health
A superb collection of essays on women's health. The information is up to date and plenty of good references are offered for anyone caring to do some deeper research on any of the topics discussed. Every woman over 40 should own this -- if she wants to know how her body works and where to go for help when it's not working right. ... Read more

Book Description

The fourth edition of Geriatrics at Your Fingertips is a portable, practical and economical tool for professionals who provide primary care to older persons.Content focuses on the evaluation and management of the diseases and disorders that most commonly affect older persons in various healthcare settings.GAYF minimizes the time clinicians spend searching for the information that they need to make patient care decisions.Many of the care strategies are derived from guidelines published by organizations such as the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association, among others.

GAYF describes assessment instruments, recommended diagnostic tests, and management strategies that include non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic therapy.The design of the tables and lists of drugs facilitates appropriate prescribing.Generic and trade names are provided, as well as information on dosages, how the drugs are metabolized or excreted, and how each drug is supplied--with special emphasis on impact in older patients.

Lists telephone and web site as additional resourcesBody system disorders (such as respiratory diseases), symptoms (like pain), and life-style issues (such as alcohol and tobacco abuse) are covered in separate chapters ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An old question and a new answer
Sincerely it was a great lecture. The topics of the book are concise and clear. The relevance of the subjects and the fluent text and make this book of great interest. ... Read more

Book Description

This book details how "Alzheimer Disease" went from being an obscure neurologic diagnosis to a household word. The words of those responsible for this revolution are the heart of this book. Dr. Robert Katzman and Dr. Katherine Bick, leaders in Alzheimer research and policy making, interview the people responsible for this awakening of public consciousness about Alzheimer
Disease from 1960 to 1980. They speak with the scientists, public health officials, government regulators, and concerned relatives and activists responsible for taking this neurodegenerative disease out of the "back wards" through the halls of Congress, and on to the front page. The reader will learn how the explosive increase in research funding and public awareness came about, how physicians and psychiatrists established diagnostic criteria, how drugs were developed that offer hope for sufferers, and how the Alzheimer's Association was born.

* Written in the words of those responsible for the widespread recognition of this neurodegenerative disease
* The authors are recognised as leaders in Alzheimer research and policy making ... Read more

Amazon.com

The blurb on the cover of this book may be slightly misleading: "A world authority shows why aging is neither inevitable nor necessary." This is true, for he does show theoretically why there is no need for us to age, i.e. that there is no "death gene" that determines, more or less precisely, our longevity. Just don't expect any miracle cures. From a layman's viewpoint, the evolutionary argument he constructs for the development of aging in species is well elucidated and highly convincing. Aging is not, according to the disposable soma theory expounded here, anything to do with population control or some such crudely deterministic mechanism, but rather the genes making the best of what are, after all, limited energy resources. Our soma cells (anything but the all-important and immortal germ-line cells by which we reproduce) are constantly being replicated, a process that, carried out in any sort of energy-efficient manner, leaves room for error. And these errors are cumulative in effect; though the process is generally remarkably accurate, a faultily constructed cell cannot produce a perfect cell, and eventually our bodies will go wrong with fatal consequences. This mattered less when the conditions of life were such that reaching a state of senescence was relatively rare. But with the change in these conditions found in modern industrialized countries, the effects of this process have taken on a far greater significance. As well as the science (all very accessible to the nonscientist), Tom Kirkwood also engages the reader in an interesting and important discussion of the social and cultural implications of these changed conditions. For the time being, though, as far as any of us are concerned, aging is still inevitable. This book doesn't offer the hope of evading death or even delaying it that significantly, but it does offer up some hope: understanding a process can help to demystify it and dispel fear, and, as Kirkwood illustrates, it can help us to try and intelligently influence the processes at work in our favor. Time of Our Lives is an excellently written popular-science book for anyone who is concerned with the onslaught of the years. --Alisdair Bowles, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Breezy anecdotal style punctuated by dagger-thrusts
Don't be misled by the first few chapters. The style is relaxed, discursive, and laced with entertaining anecdotes which sometimes seem a little off-subject.

The "disposable soma" theory of aging emerges in Chapter 6. The author first proposed this theory in a paper published in Nature in 1977, and he argues a convincing case. It is a simple but highly plausible theory, like Darwin's theory of evolution, and it defines a framework within which other theories of aging can be understood.

DNA and cells are constantly under attack. They are under attack from such things as ultraviolet radiation, viruses, free oxygen released by normal mitochondrial metabolism, and the odd hiccup during DNA-copying. We have defences against these attacks: the immune-system, anti-oxidants, and a form of DNA proof-reading under which "cells could in principle be as accurate as they liked". BUT all these defences come at a cost. The germ cells are indeed protected at any cost: that is why life goes on forever. But it would be a waste of energy to protect the somatic cells in a way that would prolong life beyond the point at which accidental death would claim almost every individual. The maximum length of time that a member of a species would normally survive in the wild determines the degree of protection which the genes of the species are prepared to pay for.

The irony is that we might be shortening our lives by drowning our bodies with oxidants generated by burning far more calories than we evolved to handle. If only those excess calories could be diverted into improving our internal "repairs & maintenance" and so lengthen our lives instead!

An excellent book, as iconoclastic in its way as Richard Dawkin's "Selfish Gene", though not as melodramatic.

Answers many questions and presents the latest data
If you've ever wondered why we can live to 80 years while our pets or livestock can expect to live for only a small fraction of that span, you'll find the explanations in "The Time of our Lives" very satisfying.

The best part of this book is its exploration of what aging is, in biological terms, and how different modes of aging can be explained by Darwinian theory. This is not a book on how to live longer, but rather a book on what scientists are learning about the mechanisms and reasons for aging.

Kirkwood writes in a lighthearted and readable style, but unlike many popular science writers, he gives his reader total respect. In areas where I keep up with medical research, (like the long-term effects of HRT) I found his book to be right up to date with the research published within the last year.

Best of all, he has no "do this and live for ever" prescription--a nice change from most other books about aging available nowadays, which seem to have been written under the sponsorship of supplement manufacturers.

A pleasant and informative read!

A good and concise book on human aging for non-scientists.
I recently finished reading this book and found it to be quite interesting and helpful in understanding why and how we all age. I think Tom Kirkwood did a very good job in explaining the biological mechanisms and processes behind aging - at a level comprehensible to the general reader - without oversimplifying or neglecting the necessary subject matter.

The book starts by talking about the social aspects and worldwide (also historical) statistics of human aging. Then the author introduces a theory of aging and gives an overview about the evolutionary, biological, physiological, and biochemical concepts and mechanisms, which is necessary to understand the aging process. In doing this, he also explains many aspects of cancer. The later chapters try to clarify the reason behind the gender- and geography-related differences in life expectancies. Finally, the last two chapters talk about the "do"s and "don't"s of "making more time". The bibliography section at the end of the book directs more interested readers to specific and more advanced sources about the material covered in the book.

Although this book was generally fast-reading, I had to re-read some looong sentences two or even three times in order to put their heads and tails together. Also, I found the last two chapters a little anticlimactic. I guess I was expecting more than "don't smoke, eat right, exercise" type of recommendations. The author doesn't make many predictions about longevity enhancement in the future, but the short science fiction story at the end of the book kind of serves for this purpose.

Still, the book deserves a five star rating in my humble opinion because it successfully explains a very complicated process to the layman without using scientific jargon. Also, the author does not go out on a limb and make unfounded or crazy predictions (like many famous science authors cannot resist the temptation of doing). ... Read more