Below is a link to an article that influenced me and my counseling journey.  The article is named Family Therapy with the Elderly (Tisher & Dean, 2000).  I chose this article because I want to be a geriatric counselor.  I want to work with the elderly, their caregivers, and their loved ones.  In this article, Tisher and Dean give a broad overview of family therapy that includes an elderly individual (2000).  It discusses the factors influencing psychotherapy with the elderly such as the influence of physical or cognitive impairments, the influence of medication, and the discomfort of disclosing private matters (stigma).  This article also hits upon various interventions that are useful when counseling elderly individuals: genograms, transmission of family history, and addressing circular patterns of interaction.  Finally, the article addresses the four types of family therapy presentations that include an elderly individual: 1) the elderly person as the identified patient, 2) a family member seeks help for themselves in relation to an elderly family member, 3) another family member as the identified patient, and 4) the wider system as the focus of therapy.  This article gave me a good base knowledge of what it is like to counsel elderly individuals and their families, and it excited me to get started.

References

Tisher, M. & Dean, S. (2000). Family Therapy with the Elderly. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 21(2) 94-101.