With advancing age the personality structure becomes more rigid, and thought content becomes meager and lacking in variety. Memory defects for recent events, occasional confusion, and decreased ability to concentrate are conducive to misunderstanding and to situations which are often interpreted as threats. The geriatric patient lives in the past and remembers events of his past life well, but sees them frequently in a rosy light which does not always correspond to reality. Everything in childhood and younger years brought joy and happiness, he believes, whereas the present life seems full of danger and frustrations. Falsifications, distortions, confabulations, a restricted thought content, and lack of flexibility are the rule; for this reason, individual psychotherapy in most cases is not indicated.
GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPYGroup psychotherapy is to be preferred over individual psychotherapy, and has many advantages for geriatric patients (1-10). Putting them together in a group is not only the first step in taking them out of their isolation, their shy and withdrawn behavior, and their feelings of loneliness, but it is less alarming to them than talking to the therapist in an individual session. Group psychotherapy decreases their anxiety, stimulates their thinking, awakes their interest in other people, and provides the possibility of making friends. Transference to one or more members of the group is easier to achieve because of the variety of choice, and a real discussion is possible because a common goal or interest can be found with less effort. In this way the interpersonal relationships can improve more quickly and with less resistance. Furthermore, excessive feelings of dependency on the part of one person toward another are curbed, and the individual members of the group, by their attitude and criticisms, help each other to control impulses, anger and temper tantrums. Having more than one person listening to their problems gives these patients more self-confidence, promotes self-esteem and helps them to talk more freely. Criticism of each other in a group setting decreases hostile behavior and delusions of persecution or grandeur.There are several disadvantages to group psychotherapy. Silence and anxiety on the part of a single member can be handled less carefully and less appropriately than in individual sessions. Insight can hardly be achieved, because the content of the talk of single members of the group is on too general a basis. The dynamics of the patient's sickness cannot be discussed. He may occasionally,
