Eighteen - Improving the Mental Health of Older Adults

Abstract

This chapter analyzed evidence for the effectiveness of psychological interventions with older adults, the importance of ethnic diversity issues in mental health and aging within the population of dementia caregivers, and the influence of public policies on the accessibility of mental health services for older adults. The aging of the population worldwide suggests that older adults will become a larger part of the client populations for professional psychologists. Also, successive generations of American adults have higher prevalence of mental disorders, suggesting that future cohorts of older adults will have a higher need for psychological services. Older adults have more positive attitudes toward mental health services than younger adults, and rate psychological treatments as more credible and acceptable than drug therapy for the treatment of depression. The presumed widespread negativity of mental health professionals toward older adults was either exaggerated from the beginning or has changed over time.