It gives me great pleasure to witness continued growth in the application of cognitive and behavioral theories and therapies to more diverse populations - including, in this volume, their application to the mental health problems of later life. Evidence continues to accumulate, demonstrating that these are effective in treating a broad range of elderly patient groups. This is the first book to examine a number of these evidence-based interventions currently in use with older adults. The editors have assembled chapters developed in many of the leading clinical and clinical research programs focusing on elderly patients, both in this country and in the UK. Since the emphasis of this volume is primarily on clinical appli- tion, each author group was asked to discuss the empirical data for the treatment strategies it is using with the specific patient group selected. Typically, this was followed by a detailed description of treatment procedures that were then ill- trated by one or more clinical examples. The book begins by examining the treatment of depressive and anxiety dis- ders and then moves on to more complicated and/or serious disorders, including schizophrenia and other psychoses, suicidal behavior, personality disorders, bipolar disorders, dementia, and complicated bereavement. A chapter on the problems and issues in training therapists to use evidence-based interventions effectively is also included, along with a chapter discussing the implications of Medicare policies and guidelines for service delivery.
About the Author:

Dr. Dolores Gallagher Thompson is Professor of Research in the Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine. She has been both a funded clinical researcher and a practicing geropsychologist for over 20 years, focusing her work on intervention research. In the past decade she has devoted more time to understanding the unique problems faced by ethnically and culturally diverse family caregivers, and has developed intervention programs tailored to their needs. In addition, she was one of the founding members of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy and enjoys teaching graduate students "the fundamentals" of CBT- in particular, how to implement this approach with older adults.

Dr. Ann Steffen is Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her teaching, research and clinical interests all focus on mental health and aging, with a particular focus on the development and evaluation of community-based interventions for dementia family caregivers.

Dr. Larry W. Thompson is currently Professor Emeritus from both Stanford University School of Medicine and the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology. He is also an active clinician/ mental health consultant to one of the local counties in northern CA where he has had the opportunity to work with bipolar patients and those with more severe mental disorders. Larry has authored a recent text on the use of CBT with bipolar individuals and is now working on a project to adapt CBT for use with depressed older adults of Asian ancestry - particularly Chinese Americans.