Therapy for Seniors and Older Adults

All of these circumstances can affect one’s identity, sense of meaning and purpose, belonging, self-esteem, and wellbeing.

Being able to talk freely about your concerns with a psychologist is an important step forward. Our aim is to help older adults and seniors face challenges with the wisdom they have gained from their life experiences and personal resources.

Psychotherapy provides you with a time to reflect and examine your unique life history within an empathic relationship. A strong therapeutic relationship offers a space to clarify complex feelings, reduce emotional distress, and make sense of your needs in the face of challenging circumstances. Changes from therapy can result in feeling more empowered and a greater sense of belonging within your community of family and peers.

Our approach to therapy for older adults and seniors is individualized, compassionate and informed by research.

Older adults include five decades of individuals. The differences among older adults is diverse and actually greater than those seen in other age groups. Psychological stressors experienced by older adults and seniors may differ according to age group, gender, race, ethnicity, cultural background, health and disability status, education, socioeconomic status and religion.

We are committed to a collaborative therapy process that is sensitive to your cultural frame of reference and each person’s unique set of therapeutic needs.

• Common reasons for therapy
• Loss and loneliness
• Finding your purpose
• Stigma and shame associated with mental health
• TED Talks: Listening to Shame – Brené Brown
• How can I benefit from therapy?

Common reasons seniors and older adults seek therapy:

• Addressing losses (e.g., loved ones, roles, functions, and independence)
• Exploring difficult transitions (e.g., retirement, change of residence)
• Managing chronic health problems
• New family and social roles; managing family conflict
• Exploring meaning and purpose after retirement and into later life
• Coping with a family member or spouse with dementia or physical disability
• Loneliness and isolation – living alone; a dwindling social circle due to deaths or relocation; decreased mobility due to illness or a loss of driving privileges

Loss and loneliness for seniors

One of the most common themes encountered in therapy is loss. Inevitably over the years and particularly in advanced age, one loses many things. For example, older adults and seniors suffer multiple losses such as spouses, friends, relatives, roles, functions, and independence, which may occur alongside fear of anticipated future losses.

Social isolation and loneliness are health risks affecting approximately one-third to one-half of the older adult population. These experiences can have a negative impact on physical and mental health and have been linked to depression, anxiety, dementia, and increased risk of cognitive decline.

We have an indispensable need for strong attachments and social connection, especially when dealing with emotional distress. Just as every human requires food and water to develop, function and thrive, we also require connectedness and human contact. A large body of literature confirms the need for healthy attachments and indicates that social participation and feeling supported are associated with better mental and physical health.

Therapy can improve the quality of a person’s relationships, enhance communication skills and strengthen social functioning. It also provides an opportunity to explore current and unresolved feelings associated with loss which can otherwise negatively impact social engagement.

Finding your purpose

A sense of meaning and purpose in your life is important for overall wellbeing. What each person defines as meaningful changes over the course of their life, particularly during later life transitions. For example, retiring from a career that was meaningful and fulfilling may leave you feeling somewhat lost. Therapy can help you explore, discover and hone in on meaningful activities and behaviours at your current life stage that enhance your sense of purpose.

Over the past two decades, many studies have indicated that older adults and seniors with a sense of purpose in life have better sleep, fewer strokes and heart attacks, and are at lower risk of dementia, disability and premature death. Individuals with a strong sense of purpose are more likely to embrace preventative health services like mammograms, colonoscopies and flu shots.

Purpose in life can arise from learning something new, accomplishing a new goal, working together with other people or making new social connections when others are lost. Older adults and seniors often discover a sense of purpose from taking care of grandchildren, volunteering or becoming involved in community service work or religion.

Understanding what is important to you and engaging in treasured activities is fundamental to overall life satisfaction. Finding purpose and building meaning into life is rarely an epiphany. It may take time to develop and can begin in therapy through introspection, conversation and a commitment to act.

Stigma and shame associated with mental health for seniors

Stigma is one of the biggest barriers to people receiving mental health care. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, more than 1.8 million older adults and seniors over the age of 60 are living with a mental health condition. Stigma associated with mental health is worse for seniors who grew up in a time when mental health was either not acknowledged or viewed as a personal shortcoming.

There are many harmful side effects of stigma such as prolonged emotional pain and internalization of stigma (e.g., self-stigma/criticism). Stigma manifests particularly in a phenomenon known as social distancing, which leads people with mental health distress to feel more isolated from others such as partners, family, and friends. Stigma and shame are fueled by silence and can undermine our self-efficacy, self-compassion, and worsen prospects for recovery.

TED Talks: Listening to Shame – Brené Brown

Brené Brown, researcher of human connection and shame, highlights the importance of engaging with your own vulnerability (defined as emotional exposure). It involves taking emotional risks (e.g., acknowledging and sharing how you feel), which ultimately can help you connect more vibrantly to yourself and others. Many people want to avoid the experience of vulnerability because they have been taught that these feelings signal a personal flaw.

The pathway to reducing stigma and shame is being open to experiencing vulnerability with someone who is empathic. As Brené Brown highlights, the less you talk about shame, the more it controls you. Although stigma continues to persist, changes in attitudes about mental health and psychotherapy has led more older adults and seniors to seek treatment for mental health wellness.

To learn more about shame, view Brené Brown’s TED Talk: Listening to shame

Therapy for seniors: How can I benefit from therapy?

In older adulthood, a variety of losses, chronic illnesses, cognitive and functional impairments directly influence the risk of developing a mental health condition as well as the course of that condition. Depression is particularly a risk factor for people who have chronic illness, especially when it is chronic pain. While these circumstances can occur at any time during a person’s life, they are more likely both to occur and to be a consistent presence in the life of an older adult.

Research indicates that older adults and seniors respond well to a variety of forms of psychotherapy and can benefit from psychological interventions to a degree comparable with younger adults. Multiple evidence-based therapies have demonstrated utility in the treatment of depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, pain, sexual issues, and interpersonal relationship difficulties.

Your emotional health affects your physical health. Addressing psychological difficulties, whether it is related to loss, loneliness, sense of purpose, or more complex issues such as changes in cognitive functioning or chronic illness, positively affects your overall wellbeing. Psychotherapy can help decrease emotional suffering, improve physical health, lessen disability, and improve quality of life for seniors and their families.

Please contact us to find out more about our therapy services for older adult and seniors.

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