Older Adults and Psychoanalytic Treatment: It's About Time

Abstract

It has become increasingly apparent that older adults may not only benefit from psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy but may be particularly well suited to such treatment. Clinical evidence to support this is presented, including discussion of the successful psychoanalysis of a woman in her seventies. An overview of the psychoanalytic literature indicates that psychoanalytic beliefs about the feasibility of treating older patients have always been favorable, but have had difficulty gaining traction. The modern psychoanalytic literature is compatible with extra-analytic studies of aging that provide further rationale for the potential usefulness of psychoanalytically oriented interventions in the elderly population.

Approaches of psychoanalysis in the care of the elderly: an integrative review

“…Another niche is the home. An elderly person may be hospitalized (in conditions of intermediate or palliative care) in their home and, if there is no significant cognitive impairment, such an individual can be subject to psychoanalytic care 12,19 .…”

Positive schemas in schema therapy with older adults: clinical implications and research suggestions

“…In later life, many older people with personality pathology seek help because they fail to cope with life events that disrupt their psychological homeostasis, like chronic illness, disability, and the loss of loved ones. Sometimes, as people age, they are motivated for psychotherapy by their shrinking life horizon, with a perceived finite boundary on their time to invest in meaningful goals (Laidlaw and McAlpine, 2008;Plotkin, 2014). Moreover, many older patients have never received (adequate) psychotherapeutic treatment earlier in their lives.…”