Depression in Later Life

Winner of the 2006 BMA Book Award for Health care for the Elderly.

This accessible and authoritative book provides an invaluable guide to identifying, treating and preventing depression in later life.

Jill Manthorpe and Steve Iliffe take a multidisciplinary approach and employ both medical and psycho-social models of depression. The medical model is used to identify symptoms, make diagnoses and work towards optimal treatment. Psycho-social perspectives provide insight into the scale and complexity of the condition and point to its social causes. The authors identify different levels of depression through in-depth analysis and consider the condition in relation to, but distinct from, dementia, psychosis and anxiety disorders, helping professionals to make the correct diagnosis. Supporting case studies show that depression, and the physical symptoms often linked to it, are amenable to treatment. The authors provide practical guidance for health and social care practitioners and suggest numerous coping strategies.

This comprehensive book is essential reading for health and social care practitioners working with older people, their carers and families.