This multi-disciplinary work is of international significance. It links psychiatry and somatic medicine, and confronts issues of comorbidity. Mood disorders are the commonest psychiatric illnesses encountered in the elderly and, as such, they receive the greatest coverage, but the text also focuses on the controversial area of late life paranoid disorder and schizophrenia, the neglected field of neurosis in old age, and the emerging problem of substance abuse in the older patient.

Several chapters feature case histories to bring the subject into lively focus. All chapters are neatly cross referenced and rich in practical advice for the multi-disciplinary team.