Older Adults

About this topic

Mental health in later life is its own territory. It can look like a low mood that arrived with retirement or loss, an anxiety that has narrowed the world to the rooms that feel safe, a grief that does not lift, or a worry about memory that no one has helped you make sense of. Some of it is new. Some of it has been carried quietly for decades.

The pages below are written for older adults, and for the people who care about them. They are general information, not a clinical assessment. If you would like to talk to one of us, you can start with a Meet and Greet.

Therapy for older adults →

Answers

1. "I am lonely. Is that depression, or just lonely?"
2. "I just retired and I feel lost. Is this normal?"
3. "My partner died. How do I keep going?"
4. "Should I worry about my memory?"
5. "I am caring for my partner with dementia and I am exhausted"
6. "My adult children do not visit. Am I being abandoned?"
7. "I keep thinking about things I did wrong years ago"
8. "How do I help my elderly parent who refuses help?"
9. "Is it normal to think about death this much?"
10. "Can therapy actually help at my age?"

Guides

• The transitions of later life
• Loneliness in later life, and what it actually does to a person
• The work of life review
• When forgetting matters, and when it does not
• The slow grief of caring for someone who is declining
• "Am I too old for therapy?"

Worksheets

• Memory Note
• Life Review
• Transitions
• First Session

More reading on related topics

• Older adults
• Healthcare navigation
• Identity
• Evidence-based
• Psychology explainer