Psychotherapy with Older Adults: Effective Assessment and Treatment Strategies to Serve an Aging Population

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Speaker

Katherine Dearborn King, PsyD Related seminars and products

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Katherine King, PsyD, is a licensed psychologist practicing in Massachusetts. She has advanced specialized training in Geropsychology and specific interests in adult development and aging, couples across the lifespan, gender/sexual/relationship diversity, existential concerns, chronic illness, and burnout recovery. She has worked and trained in various medical and mental health care settings such as inpatient psychiatry, primary care, palliative and hospice care, skilled nursing, home-based care, and elder protective services.

Dr. King is currently an associate professor, the Geropsychology concentration director, and a faculty member in the clinical health psychology concentration in the clinical PsyD doctoral program at William James College in Newton, MA. She is engaged in research on death anxiety, burnout, older adult personality assessment, adultism, and the Geropsychology mental health workforce shortage. Dr. King is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Gerontology Association. She completed her APA-accredited clinical psychology internship in the Geropsychology track at Bedford VAMC and went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in Geropsychology at VA Boston Healthcare System.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Katherine King maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with the William James College. She is the co-host of Noble Mind Podcast. Katherine King receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Katherine King is a member of the Gerontological Society of America, the American Psychological Association, Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, Massachusetts Gerontology Association, the Psychologists in Long-Term Care, and the Massachusetts Psychological Association. She is an ad hoc reviewer for Clinical Gerontologist.

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Objectives

1. Apply knowledge of psychosocial development to clinical work with older clients.
2. Evaluate the impact of ageism, ableism, internalized stigma, and stereotype threat on older adults’ mental health.
3. Conduct at least one short-term motivational interviewing or health psychology intervention to improve outcomes.
4. Differentiate depression in older adults from delirium and dementia.
5. Utilize at least three techniques from evidence-based psychotherapy approaches with older clients.
6. Recognize signs of elder abuse, self-neglect, and financial exploitation.

Outline

Psychotherapy with Older Adults
Psychological, Biological, and Diversity Considerations

• Important developmental stages and theories
• Navigate retirement, grandparenting, and other transitions
• Create continuing bonds in the face of grief
• How to help older clients identify and utilize strengths
• Medical problems and end-of-life issues
• Common health disparities for those with marginalized identities
• Impact of ageism, ableism, internalized stigma, and stereotype threat
• Counteract myths regarding sexuality

Assessment Strategies with Older Adults
What to Look for and How to Look

• Symptom profiles for depression and anxiety
• Cognitive assessment tools and brain health
• Differentiate delirium, dementia, and depression
• Life changes that lead to adjustment disorder
• Generational/cultural attitudes impacting trauma symptom disclosure
• Substance abuse and medication misuse
• Management of suicidality and aid-in-dying
• Co-existing health conditions
• Identification of medical/health distress
• Risk factors - isolation, financial stress, and more
• Intersectional and multicultural lens for case conceptualization
• Case study

Evidence-Based Treatment for Depression, Anxiety, Adjustment Disorders, and Trauma

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

• Core DBT skills for life changes, losses, and health challenges
• Interpersonal effectiveness to reduce isolation
• Improve challenging relationship dynamics

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

• Explore common existential themes
• Cognitive defusion and valued action to cope with medical problems
• Values identification and commitment

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

• Activity scheduling and behavioural interventions
• Common cognitive distortions related to pain, aging, loss
• Effective exposure-based trauma therapy
• Group CBT to reduce isolation, and stigma

Interpersonal Therapy

• Grief, role disputes and transitions, and interpersonal deficits
• Effective communication skills for aging clients
• Teach perspective-taking

Life Review and Reminiscence Therapy

• Structured approach to identify meaning
• Positive themes of resiliency and mastery
• Interventions to reduce bitterness
• Group therapy to form bonds

Additional Clinical Considerations

• Recognize elder abuse, financial exploitation, and self-neglect
• Special considerations for LGBTQIA+
• Involvement of family members in treatment
• Examine therapist biases and countertransference
• How to remain in the role of therapist when case management is also needed
• Coordinate care with co-providers
• Psychopharmacology: important considerations regarding cognitive side effects
• How to work with cognitive decline, pain, and physical needs
• Essential motivational interviewing and health psychology interventions
• Behavioral interventions to help with dementia
• Tips to make your practice older adult friendly
• Navigate systems of care, Medicare, telehealth
• Limitations of the research and potential risks

Target Audience

• Counsellors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Art Therapists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Addiction Counsellors
• Other Mental Health Professionals
• Nurse Practitioners
• Nurses