This chapter discusses several topics relevant to older adults' mental health including access and use of mental health services, prevalence of common mental health diagnoses, assessment of mental health symptoms, and empirically supported treatments for older adults. Although some topics presented in this chapter need additional research focused specifically on an older adult population, several conclusions can be drawn from the material. First, several studies have documented that older adults use mental health services less frequently than other age groups, although it is unclear why this is the case and likely involves a combination of barriers/access to treatment and stigma. Second, several of the mental health problems discussed may present differently among older adults, such as the specific symptoms of depression that older adults endorse. Third, assessment instruments for older adults need to be selected cautiously to ensure that adequate validity and reliability has been established for this population.

This chapter reviews age-related changes in personality and emotional functioning. There are several theoretical approaches to studying personality, and most of them have examined the extent to which the theory applies to older adults. For example, Joan Erikson's proposal of a ninth stage of psychosocial development, as well as ways in which attachment processes may be important in late life, and ways in which coping strategies change with age, all represent the application of existing theories to later life. The chapter focuses on emotional functioning in late life. Overall happiness and life satisfaction tends to increase with age. Older adults also show more effective strategies for regulating emotions, including situation selection and attentional deployment toward more positive features of the situation. Some of these changes can be accounted for through two theoretical models: socioemotional selectivity theory and the strength and vulnerability integration (SAVI) model.