Psychotherapy for the elderly: Public opinion.

Abstract

The ratings of 414 respondents aged 17-81 years revealed strong biases against psychotherapy for older adults. Ratings of the value of psychotherapy and the benefit that clients could derive from psychotherapy decreased steadily with increasing target age. The respondents' ratings in the present study are consistent with psychotherapists' lower preferences for treating older adults found in a previous study (see Zivian, Larsen, Knox, Gekoski, & Hatchette, 1992). Together, the results of the two studies reveal biases that may explain why so few older adults seek and receive psychological services. The present study examined the general public's knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about psychotherapy for older adults. Two previous studies, Hochman, Storandt, & Rosenberg (1986) and Roy & Storandt (1989), investigated peoples' perceptions of the severity of psychopathology in older people, but, to the best of our knowledge, neither the general public's knowledge and beliefs This study is based on the second author's doctoral dissertation. A previous version of this article was presented at the 1986 meeting of the Canadian Association on Gerontology in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The authors wish to thank the staff and visitors of the Ontario Science Centre whose cooperation helped make this study possible.

Effects of reminiscence and life review on late‐life depression: a meta‐analysis

“…About 3% suffer from severe depression and another 10 to 15% have a mild to moderate depression (Beekman et al, 1995;Cole and Yaffe, 1996). Although effective treatments, such as pharmacotherapy (Katz et al, 1990;Anstey and Brodaty, 1995), cognitive-behavioural therapy (Engels and Vermey, 1997;Pinquart and Sörensen, 2001) are available, only a few elderly receive adequate treatment for depression (Gottlieb, 1994;Zivian et al, 1994). Under-utilisation of specialised mental health services by depressed elderly are caused by low detection rates by health care providers, lack of awareness of the elderly about the severeness of their condition, insufficient knowledge about available services, reluctance to accept help in general, and aversion towards psychological treatment.…”

Supportive psychotherapy in dementia

“…When 414 indivi duals (aged 17-81 years) were asked their opinion on psychotherapy for elderly people, participants of all ages were strongly biased against psychotherapy for older adults and felt that the benefits that clients could derive from it decreased steadily with increasing age (Zivian et al, 1994). Murphy (2000) drew attention to the poor provision of psychotherapy services for older adults in the UK.…”

Angststoornissen bij ouderen

“…Dit terwijl een (klein) aantal studies laat zien dat met cognitieve-gedragstherapie en psychosociale behandeling gunstige resultaten bij oudere patie¨nten worden geboekt (Stanley, Beck, & DeWitt Glassco, 1996a ;Swales, Solfvin, & Sheikh, 1996 ). Naast de problemen met de herkenning van angststoornissen zoals genoemd, speelt ook de mening van het brede publiek en van zowel verwijzers als psychotherapeuten dat ouderen minder baat zouden hebben bij psychotherapie, een grote rol (Zivian, Gekoski, Knox, Larsen, & Hatchette, 1994 ).…”