Old age is a stage of human development which has largely been neglected in the field of psychotherapy. Not Too Late looks at ageing and psychotherapy from the perspectives of both client and therapist and challenges the view that only short-term therapy or counselling is suitable and that psychoanalysis is just for the young.
Drawing on her own experience of ageing and her work as a therapist with older people, Ann Orbach demonstrates how psychotherapy is beneficial at any age. In part one of the book she discusses the older person's sense of selfhood in relation to sterotyped attitudes and prejudices. She includes the issues of sexuality, bereavement, physical change, disability, fear of death and senility.
In part two she looks at psychotherapy from a clinical viewpoint, exploring the perspectives of both client and therapist. She discusses why therapists tend to avoid working with an older age group and how they themselves face death and the unknown. She describes what motivates patients, how they experience therapy and what actually happens in the consulting room. Not Too Late also looks beyond the end of therapy, to the difficulties that may surround it and the issue of maintaining contact with a therapist.
Not Too Late is an eye-opening and engaging read for psychotherapists, counsellors and social workers.