The Emotional and Sexual Lives of Older People

Focusing on psychological, medical and sociological processes of ageing, this work addresses emotional and sexual life, the problems associated with ageist discrimination and the needs of those with different sexual preferences. Its overall aim is to increase the quality of health care available.

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Health care professionals are now more frequently consulted about emotional and sexual matters by older patients. There is a wealth of information available about the psychological, medical and sociological processes of ageing that has become available in recent years. Demographic studies demonstrate a world-wide tendency, most pronounced in the West, towards more people living into later decades of life. Dr Gibson has brought all this information together with the object of increasing the quality of care available. In so doing, he explodes many myths, addresses both emotional and sexual life in the context of health and illness, the problems associated with ageist discrimination and the needs of those with different sexual preferences. Drawing from a wide body of knowledge, the author writes with insight in the first major work of its kind. The book seeks to surprise and equip doctors, clinical psychologists, counsellors, nurses, social workers and clergy, in their respective professions, as they consider their own role in an ageing society which has greater expectations for health and quality of relationships.