Psychodynamic psychotherapy with the elderly

Aspects of the development of older adults in the perspective of analytical psychology: a systematic review of qualitative findings

OBJECTIVE

To synthesize evidence related to aspects of the development of older adults in qualitative studies that have analytical psychology as a reference.

METHODS

we conducted a systematic review of qualitative findings following a meta-aggregation approach. Bibliographic databases PsycINFO, Pubmed (Medline), Web of Science, Scopus and LILACS were searched. Original research articles that fitted our selection criteria were selected. Two reviewers independently appraised the quality of the included studies, extracted the data, and aggregated it into a set of synthesized findings.

RESULTS

five studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Our meta-aggregation identified six synthesized findings: i) accessing the unconscious of older people with dementia; ii) contacting past experiences and emotions; iii) working with dreams; iv) facing mortality; v) individuation process in old age and vi) particularities of psychotherapeutic work with older people.

CONCLUSIONS

older adults benefit from Jungian-based psychotherapeutic interventions. Those techniques may help them cope with the developmental challenges of aging and enhance their well-being. Jungian thinking may contribute to a positive understanding of aging among mental-health professionals.

The man who lusted after Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary: A case report

We report a case of a geriatric male patient who presented with unique features of obsessive-compulsive disorder revolving around religious and sexual themes. Psychodynamic therapy, instead of the traditional choice of cognitive behavioural therapy, was successfully used in conjunction with pharmacotherapy, leading to an improvement in symptoms.

The role of hope in psychotherapy with older adults

The positive impact of psychotherapy upon the mental health problems of older people is increasingly accepted. However little attention has been paid to the role of hope in working therapeutically with older adults. Three relevant bodies of literature, namely adult psychotherapy, hope in older adulthood, and coping with chronic and terminal illness, provide a starting point for examining the therapeutic uses of hope. However, it is argued that these literatures cannot provide a sufficiently comprehensive conceptualisation of hope in psychotherapy with elders. Firstly, it is considered that hope in therapy is directly affected by key experiences of ageing, namely: facing physical and/or cognitive deterioration and facing death. Also, these three bodies of literature have tended to dichotomise hope as either beneficial and adaptive or dysfunctional and maladaptive. A developmental perspective is used to critique this dichotomy and a clinical framework is provided which examines the role and utility of hope in older adult psychotherapy from a more integrated viewpoint embedded in the client's life history. The framework is comprised of three types of 'hope work': 'facilitating realistic hope,' 'the work of despair' and 'surviving not thriving'. Suggestions are made about how this work may be carried out and with whom.