Introduction

This book began as a special volume for Clinical Gerontologist. We have previously published several articles, clinical comments, and book reviews about ethnic minorities, including a booklength special volume, Hispanic Aged Mental Health. We have also published on some of the special topics contained in these chapters. However, it has become apparent to me that there are some elders who have received the lion’s share of our attention: dementia patients and their caregivers. While this focus can be justified by the widespread and severe nature of late life organic brain syndrome, it should not excuse ignoring other sorts of problems. Similarly, most of the case studies we have published and most of the subjects in the research we have previously cited have been of European-American extraction (white), married or widowed, living in urban or suburban areas, and had some adult children who could be consulted. The purpose of this volume is to explore the mental health concerns of elders who do not fit into these paradigms: the forgotten aged.