Describes the Southeast-Bayview Mental Health Center Geriatric Services Unit, which provides a comprehensive mental health program for the elderly of San Francisco. The program emphasis is on crisis intervention, with reliance on home visits and follow-up services as well as screening and referral. (JAC)

Describes a geropsychiatric outreach team that evaluated and treated psychiatrically impaired elderly (N=66) in their home. Initial diagnostic reports and three-month follow-up interviews suggested that most patients had improved or stabilized and were able to remain in the community. Intervention strategies and patient characteristics are…

Discusses the need for a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of older persons because the elderly are likely to have a combination of social, psychological, and medical problems when they become ill. Discusses the role of the psychiatrist in light of his/her training, practice, and outlook. (Author/ABL)

This paper discusses the rationale for initiating group psychotherapy and a group program for the elderly in a private psychiatric hospital setting. The problems encountered and solutions found for patients, group therapists, and attending psychiatrists, and the therapeutic value of group therapy for the elderly psychiatric patient are examined.…

Administered Mental Health Servicves Questionnaire to 100 older and 100 middle-aged adults. Found that age groups did not differ in how they defined serious psychological problems. Both age groups equally identified professional mental health services as appropriate for helping individuals with psychological problems. Although age did not affect…

The deinstitutionalization policy has excluded older people from the mental health system and has resulted in abandoning many of them. Causes of this failure are discussed. Suggestions are made for rescuing the abandoned elderly. Presented at the Gerontological Society meeting, November, 1977, San Francisco. (Author/JEL)

Compares the United States and Canada in the funding and organization of psychiatric services for the elderly. Acute hospital, medical, and nursing home services are more accessible in Canada because of universal health insurance, but in both countries, services are limited by the small number of professionals. (JAC)

Describes the Mental Health Consultation Team at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center nursing home. The team is an interdisciplinary group of mental health professionals and primary care providers. Cooperation among these professionals has decreased the demands for formal psychiatry and psychology consultations while increasing mental…