Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781853023804

Price: £27.99

ON SALE: 1st September 1996

Genre: Medicine / Other Branches Of Medicine / Clinical Psychology / Psychotherapy

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ebook

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Old age is a stage of human development which has largely been neglected in the field of psychotherapy. Not Too Late looks at ageing and psychotherapy from the perspectives of both client and therapist and challenges the view that only short-term therapy or counselling is suitable and that psychoanalysis is just for the young.
Drawing on her own experience of ageing and her work as a therapist with older people, Ann Orbach demonstrates how psychotherapy is beneficial at any age. In part one of the book she discusses the older person’s sense of selfhood in relation to sterotyped attitudes and prejudices. She includes the issues of sexuality, bereavement, physical change, disability, fear of death and senility.
In part two she looks at psychotherapy from a clinical viewpoint, exploring the perspectives of both client and therapist. She discusses why therapists tend to avoid working with an older age group and how they themselves face death and the unknown. She describes what motivates patients, how they experience therapy and what actually happens in the consulting room. Not Too Late also looks beyond the end of therapy, to the difficulties that may surround it and the issue of maintaining contact with a therapist.
Not Too Late is an eye-opening and engaging read for psychotherapists, counsellors and social workers.

Reviews

This was a delightful book to review, amazingly well informed and lacking any therapeutic dogmatism. Instead it is full of wisdom and experience of life as one would wish from an author of such a book. It is clear throughout the book that it is health professionals in general who provide services for the elderly who have to assist with their psychological issues as well. The author also demonstrates a genuine capacity for empathy and understanding of human dilemmas. This is complemented by her considerable depth of knowledge: while it might be accurate to describe her as Jungian in some way this does not do justice to the breadth of her understanding and integration of psychological theories. Recommended reading for all professionals dealing with the elderly.
Age and Ageing
This book tackles a neglected and in some ways difficult subject in an entirely accessible way. There are many illustrations by case examples which make the message come alive with the power of the narrative. The author's own humility generates empathy in the reader. For anyone interested in therapy, this is a readable, thought provoking and in some ways challenging book.
Quarterly Plus (magazine of the Christian Council on Ageing)
Encourages those of us who work with older adults to reflect upon our practice. [A] useful contribution to the field. Reflective, honest and self-critical, Ann Orbach integrates case detail, psychotherapeutic literature and self-reflection in an almost tender consideration of the social, intrapsychic and relational issues that underpin psychotherapeutic work with older people. [A] helpful addition to the debate of the therapeutic relationship for older people.
Ageing & Society