Psychotherapy is becoming more and more socially accepted. But one group that would benefit hugely doesn’t want anything to do with it. Read here, why older generations hardly ever attend therapy.
Healthy aging is not always easy – but what makes it even worse is psychological stress. A whopping one in five older people suffers from mental illness. What does this mean for an aging population and, even more importantly, what can be done about it?
While psychotherapy is becoming more accepted by young people, one population group in particular continues to struggle with prejudice against psychosomatic medicine: the elderly. Until now, the older generation has made very little use of psychotherapy, but that seems to be changing, at least during recent years.
“The image of psychotherapy and the spread of care is very different. Also, we see that the attitude toward aging – both among the elderly and everyone else – has changed a lot,” Prof. Manfred Beutel, director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Medical Center Mainz and president of the German Congress of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, explained during a press conference. “Change is emerging, that gives me hope. More and more older people are taking psychotherapy seriously.”
Aging and psychotherapy are not always the best of friends. Older people today are far fitter, happier and also more physically active than the generations before them – that’s very positive indeed. But mental health plays at least as big a role in gaining healthy years of life and often remains neglected. Current findings show that severe mental stress and, above all, childhood or adolescence trauma can lead to premature aging and loss of healthy years in old age.
People who were chronically exposed to high levels of psychological stress during their childhood are particularly affected. This is because in the early vulnerable stages of child development, stress regulation, brain development and social skills can be permanently damaged by stress. “If mental illness is added to this, the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases increases sharply. There is also premature loss of muscle strength, an important risk factor for frailty,” according to a statement from the German Congress of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy should therefore be seen not just as a treatment for mental illness, but as a prevention of cognitive decline. So why do so few older people go to therapy?
“It has to be said that in Germany, psychotherapy only really developed in the 1970s, and I think that the very elderly in particular have had little experience with it,” says Beutel. It is certainly true that especially among the older generation, prejudice against psychotherapy remains strong. Yet, about one in five elderly people suffers from mental illness – often due to losses of loved ones or unprocessed childhood trauma.
So, on the one hand, it is certainly due to the unwillingness of the affected persons to deal with their psyche. On the other hand, it is also due to age stereotypes some therapists hold. Old people are rarely believed to be able and willing to change through psychotherapy. “Unfortunately, the idea that older people should rather be offered shorter therapies is still very common. People think that you won’t be able to make that much of a difference there. I don’t think that’s true. I believe that a lot can be achieved even with older people if the person really wants to make a change,” says Beutel.
It is therefore possible to achieve many healthy years of life in old age by working through childhood traumas and psychological stress that has accumulated over the years. Psychotherapy should not only be understood as a treatment for mental disorders in old age, but also as a means of maintaining activity and health as well as preventing mental decline.
Image source: Matt Bennett, unsplash
