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Tailoring adult psychiatric practices to the field of geriatrics

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Abstract

The United States' population is aging. Epidemiological surveys suggest significant rates of mental illness amongst the rapidly growing over-65 cohort. A burgeoning experience and data base related to the developing sub-discipline of geriatric psychiatry is now available. This article synthesizes key issues and concepts as an introduction to geropsychiatric practice—in particular, a) the interface between medical illness and psychiatric expression in the elderly, b) delirium, c) dementia, and d) depression—and considers their interactions. Finally, there is a brief overview of geriatric psychopharmacology, followed by clinically-oriented discussions of each of the major classes of psychotropics as applied to a geriatric population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geriatric Psychiatry, Hillside Hospital, Psychiatric Division of Long Island Jewish Medical Center, USA

    Blaine S. Greenwald M.D. (Director)

  2. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA

    Blaine S. Greenwald M.D. (Director)

  3. Geriatric Psychiatry Inpatient Unit, Hillside Hospital, Psychiatric Division of Long Island Jewish Medical Center, USA

    Neil Kremen M.D. (Unit Chief)

  4. Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic, Hillside Hospital, Psychiatric Division of Long Island Jewish Medical Center, USA

    Peter Aupperle M.D., M.P.H. (Chief)

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  1. Blaine S. Greenwald M.D.
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  2. Neil Kremen M.D.
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  3. Peter Aupperle M.D., M.P.H.
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Greenwald, B.S., Kremen, N. & Aupperle, P. Tailoring adult psychiatric practices to the field of geriatrics. Psych Quart 63, 343–366 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066763

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