Curious bedfellows: Psychoanalytic understanding and old age psychiatry

Ardern, Mark; Garner, Jane; Porter, Ruth

doi:10.1080/02668739800700051

Cited by 20 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Few older patients are referred or taken on for psychodynamic psychotherapy. However, the principles and understanding derived from the theory and practice of this type of psychotherapy may be used to inform the service as a whole (Ardern et al, 1998) in the same way as has been demonstrated in some general psychiatry units. It is demanding and stressful to work with physically and mentally dependent older people and with their families, who may project guilt and hostility.…”

Section: Staff Support and Service Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Perhaps older people should be credited with greater ego-strength -they bring into old age all the positive attributes and coping skills that have helped them previously; they have an increased capacity for delayed gratification and for getting on with things. Ardern et al (1998) note that although some patients need to know that staff will be available to them 'for ever', for others a knowledge of their own brief remaining time accelerates psychological change and adaptations. Creativity and old age are not strangers and it is possible to think of many artists, musicians, actors, theoreticians and analysts who have produced work of the highest standard with advancing years.…”

Section: Common Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychodynamic work and older adults

Garner¹

2002

Adv. psychiatr. treat

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Section: Staff Support and Service Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Common Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychodynamic work and older adults

Garner¹

2002

Adv. psychiatr. treat

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“…The depredations of dementia can arouse powerful feelings in patients and staff, and observation allows a unique way of coming close to this disturbance and the prevalent dynamics in-situ. Tranferences and counter tranferences operating may be better understood with observation as Ardern, Garner, and Porter (1998) remind us that working with the elderly does not spare us from primitive feelings of rage, envy and fear.…”

Section: Retrogenesismentioning

confidence: 98%

“…So who then is to provide containment for the ones who act as containers? Ardern et al (1998), Garner (2002, and Holman, Meyer, and Davenhill (2006) have written of the importance of acknowledging these complex conscious and unconscious processes through supervision. More reflective practices will help yield insights not only into the patients' emotions but also that of staff.…”

Section: Hate In the Countertransferencementioning

confidence: 98%

Making sense of dementia using infant observation techniques: a psychoanalytic perspective on a neuropathological disease

Ng¹

2009

Infant Observation

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Dementia is relatively poorly understood from a psychological perspective and current care provisions focus preferentially on pharmacological and social interventions. Although dementia preys on a sufferer's cognitive attributes, this loss does not equate to a loss of emotional attributes in these patients. In dementia, the trajectory of life reverses and a degree of regression occurs. Through observations in an acute dementia ward, this work scrutinizes the potential that infant observation may hold for achieving greater insights into the internal worlds of dementia patients and their external environment. I look at the experience of caring for these challenging patients and examine the psychoanalytical constructs behind it. The findings derived from the platform of infant observation appear to support a more psychological rather than biological stance in approaching the complicated but fragile configuration of care on acute psychiatric units for dementia sufferers.

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“…There is a growing body of work in this area: Ardern, Garner, & Porter (1998), Balfour (2007), Davenhill, R. (Ed.).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinking about dementia – a psychodynamic understanding of links between early infantile experience and dementia

Malloy

2009

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

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This paper explores links between a psychodynamic approach to early infantile experience and how this can underpin an understanding of the states of mind that can be returned to for a person with dementia as the disease progresses. Dementia is more commonly associated with later life, early onset dementia, however, is also a reality. A deeper understanding of the unconscious communications and anxieties in this area and the containment provided by this understanding can help to support more thoughtful work with the person with dementia, their family and the formal support system around them both. The paper uses vignettes from working with a client in his home.

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Curious bedfellows: Psychoanalytic understanding and old age psychiatry

Cited by 20 publications

References 13 publications

Psychodynamic work and older adults

Psychodynamic work and older adults

Making sense of dementia using infant observation techniques: a psychoanalytic perspective on a neuropathological disease

Thinking about dementia – a psychodynamic understanding of links between early infantile experience and dementia

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