Therapy for Older Adults

Laurette's question about her 72 year-old client inspired me to read "Cognitive Behavior Therapy With Older Adults" by Ken Laidlaw, et. al. It was full of good information, and I'd recommend it to anyone facing the unique challenges of working with this population.

The first chaper of the book ("Basic Gerentology for Cognitive Therapists") really opened my eyes to some facts about the future of our profession. Low birth rates and high longevity among the developed countries of the world means that we, as a society, are aging quite rapidly. Other statistics, such as the dependecy ratio, were also quite startling. The implication here is that "senior issues" in mental health care are going to become much more important over the next thirty years. (Not to mention related issues like "caretaker stress".)

The discussion I'd like to start here revolves around training. Most therapists won't work with young children unless they have specialized training to do so. Does the same rule of thumb apply to seniors? If not, should it? Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not trying to imply that senior citizens have the mental capacities of children or any such thing. I would say that they have different needs than younger and middle-aged adults, however. Are the graduate programs designed to train independent practitioners devoting enough time and effort to this topic? In my experience, most of them have required courses in areas like "Human Development Across the Lifespan" (or something similar) but no required Gerentology courses.

What are your thoughts on the topic? Does a therapist trained to work with adults have "what it takes" to work with seniors? Are we, as a profession, taking the necessary steps to prepare for the "aging of society"?

Replies:

Re:Therapy for Older Adults, by Laurette, 12/10/03 Readings and resources, by Laurette, 12/10/03

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