Psychopharmacology and Aging, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1973
Advances in Behavioral Biology Series, Vol. 6

This volume represents the proceedings of a Symposium on Psychopharmacology and the Aging Patient, held at Duke University, May 29-31, 1972. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development and the Department of Psychiatry at Duke. This Symposium was the first in a series of conferences which will be devoted variously to preclinical and clinical pharmacology of the different groups of psychotropic drugs, especially as they relate to the problems of the elderly patient and to the special considerations that must be given in theory and in practice to changes brought about by the process of aging. The idea behind this particular symposium was to bring basic and clinical scientists together with practicing clinicians and other mental health professionals for an exchange of ideas and interests through formal didactic and informal small sessions. The major interest, of course, was to disseminate current information on the clinical use and indication for psychoactive agents, particularly as they related to the elderly patient. Recognition and management of psychiatric syndromes of the elderly were included as they were pertinent to psychopharmacology of aging to indicate the direction of ongoing work and to stimulate further research in this area. The editors wish to gratefully acknowledge the generous financial support xiii xiv Foreword of the Symposium granted by the following pharmaceutical firms: Smith-Kline-French Laboratories Pfizer Laboratories and Abbott Laboratories Burroughs-Wellcome Company CIBA - Geigy Corporation Lakeside Laboratories McNeil Laboratories, Inc.

Issues in the Psychopharmacology of the Aged.- Section I: Bases of a Psychopharmacology for Aging.- Norepinephrine, Dopamine and Serotonin: CNS Distribution, Biosynthesis and Metabolism.- Interaction of Learning and Memory with Age in the Rat.- Changes in Monoamine Oxidase with Aging.- Age-related Changes in Tissue Levels of Cyclic AMP.- A Pituitary Factor Inhibiting the Effects of the Thyroid: Its Possible Role in Aging.- Section II: Complications of Drug Use.- Dyskinesia in the Aging.- Attempts at Pharmacological Management of Tardive Dyskinesia.- Affective Changes Associated with L-DOPA Therapy.- Abuse Potential of Mild Analgesics.- Clinical Problems in Treating the Aged with Psychotropic Drugs.- Section III: Issues in Clinical Management of Drugs.- A Survey of Drug Effects upon Cognitive Activities of the Aged.- Memory Loss and Its Possible Relationship to Chromosome Changes.- Multiple System Interaction and High Bodily Concern As Problems in the Management of Aging Patients.- Responses to Psychotropic Drugs in the Normal Elderly.- Emotional Responses to Physical Illness.- Antianxiety Agents.- Management of the Patient in the Home and Community.- Psychoses in the Elderly.- Paranoid Syndromes of the Senium.- Detection of Affective Disorders in the Aged.- Use of Antidepressant Drugs in the Elderly Patient.- Electroshock and the Aged Patient.