Category:

Counseling Aging Families

By: Irene Deitch, PhD
Candace Ward Howell, MS
Jon Carlson, Psy.D., Ed.D

Course Outline

This latest monograph in the Family Psychology and Counseling Series examines in detail how elderly persons and their families deal with evolving relational roles, dependence concerns, chronic illness, and institutionalized care. Gender issues among diverse populations are explored, as are intergenerational family dynamics. Special chapters highlight caregiver stress and violence against older persons.

Selected Contents:

  • Women and Men “In the Middle:” Caregiving and Demographic Changes
  • Single Older Women and the Family
  • Later-Life Parenthood
  • Reflections of an Aging Therapist: Professional and Personal
  • Parent and Adult Child: Unresolved Issues of Individuation
  • Couple Therapy With the Intact Caregiver and the Frail Cared-For: A Case Study
  • Separation and Loss in Alzheimer’s Disease
  • The Effect of Parental Illness and Loss on Adult Children
 

About Authors

Irene Deitch, PhD, is a professor of psychology at City University of New York, College of Staten Island. She is a New York state licensed psychologist and a certified family therapist and grief counselor. Dr. Deitch also has a professional practice as a psychotherapist.

Candace Ward Howell, MS, is a counselor at the Lake Geneva Wellness Clinic. She has served as associate editor of Individual Psychology: The Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research, and Practice and is currently book review editor of The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families.

Jon Carlson, Psy.D., Ed.D, is Distinguished Professor at Governors State University in University Park, Illinois and Director of the Lake Geneva Wellness Clinic in Wisconsin. He is also the editor of Individual Psychology: The Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research and Practice and The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the price of longevity gains.
2. List several factors that contribute to depression in older women.
3. List 3 issues that emerge between aging parents and adult children.
4. Describe the three phases of Alzheimer’s disease.

Course Contents

  1. Growing Old in Families
  2. Women and Men “In the Middle”: Caregiving and Demographic Changes
  3. Single Older Women and the Family
  4. Later-Life Parenthood
  5. Reflections of a Therapist and Grandparent: Professional and Personal
  6. Parent and Adult Child: Unresolved Issues of Individuation
  7. Missing Fathers: Aging Traditional Men and Familial Estrangement
  8. When Golden Pond is Tainted: Domestic Violence and the Elderly
  9. Separation and Loss in Alzheimer’s Disease: Impact on the Family
  10. Couple Therapy With the Intact Caregiver and the Frail Cared-For: A Case Study
  11. Placement of the Elderly Parent in a Residential Health Care Facility: Impact on the Family
  12. The Effect of Parental Illness and Loss on Adult Children