Individual Psychotherapy with the Aged: A Selective Review

Abstract

While elderly individuals are still markedly underrepresented in facilities providing outpatient psychological services, clinical interest in individual psychotherapeutic intervention with the aged mentally ill has gradually risen during the past several decades. A broad review of the literature suggests that published descriptions of such interventions have generally been global and vague and that research reports, while collectively pointing to the feasibility of individual psychotherapy, have been infrequent and methodologically weak. In view of the rising numbers of elderly persons potentially requiring psychological services and a probable decrease in the mutual avoidance of therapists and the aged, the need for further theoretical development and empirical research is indicated.