Psychiatric Medication for Older Adults

Book Review Psychiatric Medication for Older Adults, by Carl Salzman, 191 pp, $30, 72 Spring St, New York, NY 10012, Guilford Press (telephone: 800-365-7006), 2001, ISBN 1-57230-578-9 Type and Scope of Book: This single-authored text provides clear and succinct guidelines for the treatment of psychiatric complaints in older adults. Contents: The author begins with a discussion of basic issues associated with treating older patients, including polypharmacy. An overview of psychotropic drugs and general information for practitioners, patients, caregivers, and family members are presented, and compliance problems are addressed. The text covers the most common psychiatric disorders in elderly patients, including depression, mania, anxiety, sleep disorders, dementia, and agitation. Included are brief diagnostic overviews, practical management guidelines, and pertinent case vignettes that illustrate important principles of psychiatric diagnosis and drug treatment in this population. The author appropriately distinguishes prescribing medications for the “young-old” (65-80 years) and for the “old-old” (>80 years). Strengths: This useful reference source contains numerous tables that summarize important data, including drug information and diagnostic and management pearls. The chapter on depression is especially thorough in its coverage of the medical etiologies of depression and the use of tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors in the elderly. Polypharmacy and the risk of drug interactions, which are important considerations in prescribing psychiatric drugs for older adults, are addressed in a table in the appendix. Deficiencies: Medical etiologies for anxiety are not addressed, and although polypharmacy is discussed, issues relating to chemical dependence in the elderly are not. Recommended Readership: Primary care physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners who treat elderly patients as well as psychiatrists, resident physicians, and those who teach them. Overall Grading: #### Virginia E. Hofmann, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn

Grading Key ★★★★★ = outstanding; ★★★★ = excellent; ★★★ = good; ★★ = fair; ★ = poor.

© 2002 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research

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