[Psychotherapeutic management of aging patients in a neurologic practice]

In a neuropsychiatric practice in a large metropolitan area which works together with 274 therapists (psychoanalysts, behavior therapists, etc.), of the 606 patients that were seen during a 3-month span, 52% were over the age of 50, and 17% were more than 60 years old. Either a short- or a long-term psychotherapy was indicated in 6.25% of the cases involving these older patients. However, only 1.69% of the patients over the age of 60 received treatment. Twice the number of psychoanalysts as compared to behavior therapists was not willing to treat a patient over the age of 50.