Table of Contents

When the Body Intrudes: Psychotherapy with Older and Medically Ill
Adults.- Technology, Idealization, and Unconscious Dynamics in the Culture of Medicine.- The Trauma of Medical Illness.- Narcissistic Aspects of Aging and Illness.- Grey Areas: When Illness May be Particularly Impacted by Psychological Variables.-

Transference and Countertransference Considerations.- Self-Destructive Behaviors and Illness.- Cognitive Changes and Implications for the Therapeutic Encounter.- What We Know and What We Don't: The Influence of Psychological Factors and Relationships on Medical Illness.- Hope and Grief: The Introduction of an Emotional Language.

About the Author

Tamara McClintock Greenberg, PsyD, MS is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, where she supervises psychiatry residents. She has worked with medical and aging patients for the last twenty years in hospitals, long-term care facilities and in her outpatient practice. Dr. Greenberg is the author of four books and a number of contributed chapters, which have encompassed both academic and popular press writing. She has written for Psychology Today online, Psych Central and The Huffington Post. She has been a speaker to audiences and the media on topics such as aging, illness, the stresses associated with caretaking, grief, the trauma of illness, coping with aging, women's issues and the application of psychodynamic ideas for people struggling with health problems and those that try to help them. A major focus of her writing has been on how loved ones and patients can deal with doctors and the medical system in a more empowered way, while being mindful of the difficult and unique stressors physicians and medical staff face in this ever-complicated medical landscape. Dr. Greenberg lives with her husband and two pugs in San Francisco.

Reviews

"This book explains how psychodynamic theory can help with an understanding of older adults with chronic illnesses and teaches therapeutic techniques to help them work through challenges and provide hope and healing. ... graduate students in psychology and social work would get great benefit as well. ... The book ends with a discussion about the importance of providing hope in the midst of grief. This readable book contains helpful case vignettes." (Gary B. Kaniuk, Doody's Book Reviews, May, 2016)