Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T04:18:04.391Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reflections on Psychotherapy with Ageing People, Individually and in Groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

A. Joan G. Hunter
A. Joan G. Hunter*
Affiliation:
25 Eton Rise, Eton College Road, London NW3 2DF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Over the last 10 years I have run 17 psychotherapy groups for aged people who were in hospitals, homes or in the community. The groups were all short, usually running for 12 weeks. The total number in these groups was 121 and their ages ranged from 68 to 100. The average size of each group was seven and there were never more than four men in any group and in 11 groups there were only women. The average attendance was 88% and 36 attended more than one group. One member suffered from motor neuron disease, two from Parkinson's disease and the common causes of infirmity of old age were widely represented. All members had been diagnosed as suffering from senile dementia in two groups. In every group at least one member was hard of hearing and a communicator was used over the hearing aid to facilitate hearing. One member was blind and the sufferer from motor neuron disease continued to attend after losing her speech.

Type
Point of View
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 154 , Issue 2 , February 1989 , pp. 250 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abraham, K. (1919) The applicability of psychoanalytic treatment to patients at an advanced age. In Selected Papers on Psychoanalysis. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1904) Freud's psychoanalytic procedure. Standard Edition, vol. 7. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 240–254.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1905) On psychotherapy. Standard Edition, vol. 7. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 257–268.Google Scholar
Guntrip, H. (1968) Schizoid Phenomena Object–Relations and the Self. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Hildebrand, H. P. (1982) Psychotherapy with older patients. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 55, 19–28.Google Scholar
Hildebrand, H. P. (1983) Psychoanalysis and ageing. In Annual of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 15, p. 113. Madison, Connecticut: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Hildebrand, H. P. (1985) Object loss and development in the second half of life. In The Race Against Time (eds. Nemiroff, R. A. & Colarusso, C. A.). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Hildebrand, H. P. (1986) Dynamic psychotherapy with the elderly. In Psychological Therapies for the Elderly (eds. Hanley, I. & Gilhooly, M.). London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Hildebrand, H. P. (1989) Towards an understanding of the dynamics of later life. Proceedings of the Third International Psychogeriatric Congress, Chicago, 1987 (ed. Finkel, S.) (in press).Google Scholar
King, P. (1974) Notes on the psychoanalysis of older patients. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 19, 22–37.Google Scholar
Sandler, A. M. (1978) Psychoanalysis in later life: problems in the psychoanalysis of an aging narcissistic patient. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 11, 5–36.Google Scholar
Sandler, A. M. (1982) Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy of the older patient: a developmental crisis in an aging patient: comments on development and adaptation. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15, 11–32.Google Scholar
Segal, H. (1958) Fear of death: notes on the analysis of an old man. In The work of Hannah Segal. London: Jason Aronson.Google Scholar
Storr, A. (1960) Torture without violence. New Statesman, 12 March, 358.Google Scholar
Truax, C. B. (1966) Therapist empathy, warmth and genuineness and patient personality change in group psychotherapy: a comparison between interaction unit measures, time sample measures, patient perception measures. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 22, 225–229.3.0.CO;2-O>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winnicott, D. (1960) Ego distortion in terms of true and false self. In The Maturational Process and the Facilitating Environment. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Winnicott, D. (1962) Ego integration in child development. In The Maturational Process and the Facilitating Environment. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Winnicott, D. (1967) Mirror-role of mother and family in child development. In The Predicament of the Family (ed. Lomas, P.). London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Yalom, I. D. & Rand, K. (1966) Compatability and cohesiveness in therapy groups. In Group Psychotherapy Research Commentaries and Selected Readings (ed. Roback, H. B. et al). New York: Krieger.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.