Treatment of Late-Life Insomnia

Book excerpt: Treatment of Late Life Insomnia is an extremely valuable, authoritative and comprehensive resource not only for practitioners of sleep medicine but also for any health-care practitioner who finds themselves working with the elderly population. —Michael V. Vitiello, Ph.D. Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington & Editor in Chief (for the Americas) of Sleep Medicine Reviews Insomnia occurs among older adults (65+ years) at a rate 50% to 100% higher than in younger age groups, and the consequences of insomnia in the elderly are much more severe than in younger age groups. Elders who exhibit a chronic pattern of insomnia dwell on their anticipation of a poor night′s sleep. In many cases, this worry takes on an obsessive quality that degrades multiple aspects of the individual′s life. In the past decade there has been a great deal of clinical research directed toward the development of effective interventions for insomnia among older adults. Methods of insomnia assessment have been developed and key diagnostic issues have crystallized. Yet until now, no book has gathered together this flourishing body of literature. Treatment of Late-Life Insomnia provides a comprehensive research/clinical accounting of insomnia treatment in older adults. The first section of the book, Overview, describes typical normal and disturbed sleep patterns in older adults, demographics, and methods of evaluation and differential diagnosis. The core of the book, the middle section, entitled Intervention Strategies, reviews the clinical outcome research of the major treatments for late-life insomnia and teaches the clinical procedures in the style of a clinical handbook. The final section, Special Treatment Topics, explores cutting-edge research and methods of clinical management for pressing topics in late-life insomnia that have only recently attracted systematic investigation. This book is geared toward students, scientists, and health practitioners engaged in the areas of geriatrics, sleep disorders, and behavioral medicine. These disciplines cut across a wide variety of professional groups that would find such a book useful, including psychology, psychiatry, counseling, internal medicine, geriatric medicine, nursing, and social work.