Praise for the First Edition

`Bob G Knight not only provides an avenue for therapists to get up-to-date in this field, but he even considers the future... This book is indeed a major contribution to the developing trend that psychotherapists who work with older adults need to become competent as geropsychotherapists!' - Contemporary Psychology

Now in a Third Edition, Bob G Knight's best-selling book continues to offer students and professionals a thorough overview of psychotherapy with older adults. Using the contextual, cohort-based, maturity, specific challenge (CCMSC) model, it draws upon findings from scientific gerontology and life-span developmental psychology to describe how psychotherapy needs to be adapted for work with older adults and when it is similar to therapeutic work with younger adults. Sensitively linking both research and experience, the author provides a practical account of the knowledge, technique, and skills necessary to work with older adults in a therapeutic relationship. This volume considers the essentials of gerontology as well as the nature of therapy in depth, focusing on special content areas and common themes.

1. Gerontology for Psychotherapists: The Contextual, Cohort Based, Maturity/Specific Challenge Model
2. Adaptations of Psychotherapy for Older Adults
3. Building Rapport with the Older Client
4. Transference & Countertransference with Older Clients
5. Guidelines for Assessment in the Context of the Practice of Psychotherapy
6. Griefwork with Older Adults
7. Chronic Illness in Later Life
8. Psychotherapy for the Person with Dementia
9. Psychotherapy with Family Caregivers of Frail Older Adults
10. Life Review in Psychotherapy with Older Adults
11. Ethical Issues & Concluding Thoughts on Psychotherapy with Older Adults

Bob G. Knight, Ph.D., is the Merle H. Bensinger Professor of Gerontology, Psychology, and Counseling Psychology at the Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, where he also serves as Director of the Tingstad Older Adult Counseling Center and faculty director of the Los Angeles Caregiver Resource Center. He is currently serving the Department of Psychology as Director of Clinical Training. His research interests include caregiving, emotion and aging, and mental health policy and aging, and he has published extensively in mental health and aging, including this book, Outreach with the Elderly (NYU Press, 1989), and Older Adults in Psychotherapy: Case Histories (Sage, 1992). He is the senior editor of Mental Health Services for Older Adults: Implications for Training & Practice in Geropsychology (1995), and a co-editor of A Guide to Psychotherapy & Aging: Effective Clinical Interventions in a Life-Stage Context (1996), both published by APA Books. Dr. Knight has been active in various professional organizations relating to psychology and aging. He served as President of Section II, Division 12 (Clinical Geropsychology) of the American Psychological Association in 1997. He is currently (2002-2003) President Elect of APA Division 20 (Adult Development and Aging), and he served as chair of the APA Committee in Aging in 2001. Dr. Knight received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Indiana University, Bloomington. His professional experience in working with older adults began while working at the Urban League of Madison County (IN) where he organized and served as first president of the Madison County Council on Aging in 1973.