Introduction

Abstract

America is growing older. The latest census bureau information reveals that half of all Americans are now 30 or older. There are now 25.5 million people over 65 years old, 28% more than in 1970. Furthermore, the statistics portend a sharply rising median age over the next three decades. It is essential for the mental health profession to develop treatment strategies and respond to the needs of older patients. Ironically, there is probably no area in psychiatry and psychoanalysis in which there has been more misinformation, inconsistency, and stereotyping than in the treatment of the patient over 40.

Ay, note that Potter’s wheel, That metaphor! and feel Why time spins fast, why passive lies our clay,— Thou, to whom fools propound, When the wine makes its round, “Since life fleets, all is change; the Past gone, seize to-day!” Robert Browning (1812–1889), Rabbi Ben Ezra