Everything Ends: Identity and the Therapist ’s Retirement

< h3 class= " a-plus-plus " > Abstract < /h3 > < p class= " a-plus-plus " > This paper explores two sides of the coin with respect to the topic of the aging therapist in clinical practice: a diminution of health resulting in an inability to recognize the need to retire and a choice to retire while in good health to pursue other ways of living. It is my position that some distinguished practitioners of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy, for a myriad of complicated reasons, are unable to deal with the diminution of their faculties —a symptom of dementia—that renders them incapable of making a critical assessment as to whether they should continue to practice. Using material gathered from interviews, I attempt to ascertain why clinicians are leery of open discussion of these issues. In a field where self-examination is par amount, why are therapists reticent to acknowledge the reality of cognitive impairment as a factor in functionality, before it occurs? In addition, can therapists embrace, without negative attribution, other therapists’ choice to retire in good health—at the “top of their game”—in order to pursue other important developmental milestones, which lay outside the practice of psychotherapy? < /p >

Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - May 31, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research