Malcolm Gladwell (Tipping Point) said ideas and social trends can spread like a virus. Eracism is a good virus that might seem assymptomatic but offers long term protection against racism and bigotry. Like a viral infection it spreads geometrically, where 1 person infects 2, 2 infect 4, and so on. It spreads best when neither person wears personal protective equipment or shelters in place.
This book provides a toolkit of three techniques mental health professionals use to work with “difficult patients.” The Trust Equation can help improve your trustworthiness so you can have more meaningful interactions, Motivational Interviewing teaches a collaborative style of conversing, and Mindfulness helps you deal with your own emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and intersponal effectiveness that could otherwise derail encounters.
Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals who have experience working with the elderly are in greater demand than ever before. Unfortunately, geriatric training is limited, or in some cases, lacking altogether. The need for a primer which clinicians can turn for his information is critical. This handbook answers the call, addressing the issues fundamental to geriatric care. An immensely practical and user-frientdly handbook, it equips all clinicians, medically trained or not, with a basic knowledge of how to effectively care for our growing elderly population.
This was a Joint project from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Council on Aging and the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) on Cultural Competence Training.
In the mid-1990s, I was appointed to chair a workgroup of members from both the APA and AAGP who shared a common interest, to address the known disparities in care for minority populations. The basic assumption was that knowledge would bring about change.
Like most workgroup projects, this was a valiant effort that only saw a glimmer of daylight. By posting it here, perhaps the ideas can gain new life.