Trends in geriatric psychiatry relevant to pastoral counselors

This article is a general overview of mental disorders in the aged that stresses the complementary roles that religious and mental health professionals can play in meeting the psychological and spiritual needs of elders. Chaplains and pastoral counselors should be competent in recognizing serious psychiatric disorders in older adults and able to differentiate them from the more common and benign emotional disturbances. Both counseling and biological treatments have distinct but often overlapping roles in the treatment of mental disorders in the aged. When treating emotionally disturbed elders, religious professionals should be aware of new trends in psychotherapy and biological psychiatry that are now making the integration of secular and religious techniques more and more feasible.