Psychodynamic psychotherapy
Psychodynamic therapy is based on a psychoanalytic approach drawing on concepts of human development, relationships and experience. Psychoanalysis is both a technique of investigation and a theory of treatment, and it can help us understand aspects of clinical practice, for example the sometimes apparently irrational responses of patients, families or staff. This chapter explores how psychoanalysis has been relatively slow to encompass older people’s issues, but how it now contributes important insights about maturity and later life. Older people are less likely to be offered psychotherapy even though there is good evidence that they benefit from treatment as much as younger adults. In undertaking therapy with older people, there are particular issues to bear in mind, for example the physical reality of the patient and the setting, as well as the transference and counter transference issues that may arise around this stage of life.