The Utility of Existential Therapy with Older Adults.

Older adults, defined as those aged 65 or older, are rapidly becoming the largest group of individuals in the United States. As this population steadily increases, so will the demand for adequate and appropriate mental health care. Counselors need to be prepared to meet this increasing demand by understanding efficacious ways to conceptualize and intervene with older adults. Existential theory and therapy is one tool to conceptualize older adults in counseling and is uniquely suited for therapy with older adults by its direct focus on late-life issues such as death and meaningfulness. This paper provides a brief overview of the existential theory, followed by a discussion of how to meet the mental health needs of older adults by utilizing existential techniques. Two therapy cases are presented as preliminary evidence that existential therapy can be useful with older adults. The limitations of this approach are also discussed. (Contains 14 references.) (Author/GCP)