GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY WITH GERIATRIC PATIENTS IN A MENTAL HOSPITAL †

With advancing age the personality structure becomes more rigid, and thought content becomes meager and lacking in variety. Memory defects for recent events, occasional confusion, and decreased ability to concentrate are conducive to misunderstanding and to situations which are often interpreted as threats. The geriatric patient lives in the past and remembers events of his past life well, but sees them frequently in a rosy light which does not always correspond to reality. Everything in childhood and younger years brought joy and happiness, he believes, whereas the present life seems full of danger and frustrations. Falsifications, distortions, confabulations, a restricted thought content, and lack of flexibility are the rule; for this reason, individual psychotherapy in most cases is not indicated.