This multiauthored introductory textbook could not have been conceived or brought to fruition 10 or 15 years ago. Indeed, at that time relatively little attention was accorded to the psychological needs of older adults. The general tenor of the field then was that older adults would not benefit from psychological intervention. As we now know, this was a faulty assumption that has been discredited with empirical data. Indeed, clinical research data adduced, primar­ ily in the last decade, clearly documents that older adults do benefit from specific psychotherapies that are tailored to their unique presentation of symptoms. Given the explosion of interest in this area (as