Conclusions

Abstract

A fairly extensive range of treatment methods have just been presented and illustrated. Most of these go well beyond the simple emotional support services, environmental adjustments, and necessary concrete services we have traditionally associated with working with older persons. Also, the problems presented here have gone beyond the simple needs for comfort, friendly visiting or companionship, and physical and emotional security that we professionals have in the past attributed to the elderly. Indeed, some of the psychosocial problems just presented, such as those concerning identity and meaning, are in some respects more complex and difficult to handle in counseling and psychotherapy than the interpersonal and intrapersonal adjustment problems of younger age cohorts. Even the more formally recognized clinical problems or syndromes of depression and anxiety are every bit as complex and challenging in older persons as in younger ones.