Looking into Later Life: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Depression and Dementia in Old Age

Looking into Later Life aims to bring alive the relevance and value of psychoanalytic concepts in supporting the core role of those working directly in services for people who are older. It does not aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the whole field of either old age or psychoanalysis, but to share an approach to thinking useful to clinical psychologists and psychotherapists working with people coming for consultation and intensive psychoanalytic treatment in the latter part of the lifespan.

Though each chapter is different and stands in its own right, there are certain psychoanalytic concepts that appear and reappear again and again. Specifically these are the concepts of transference, countertransference, and projective identification, which are the theoretical and clinical bedrock on which psychoanalytic psychotherapy rests. Each chapter provides a different lens to the reader that will broaden and deepen understanding of such core concepts and their straightforward applicability in strengthening the quality of treatment. The book will also be of interest to analysts and psychotherapists concerned with old age and the application of psychoanalytic thinking in the public sector.

Part of The Tavistock Clinic Series