SELF-GOVERNMENT FOR PATIENTS ON A GERIATRIC SERVICE

Abstract

In the time allotted I shall attempt to deal with the application of selected aspects of group psychotherapy in the management of elderly psychotic patients. There may he some doubt as to whether or not the

technique I will describe can legitimately be termed group psychotherapy, but at the same time, there is little question that group method is involved, that therapeutic benefits accrue and that the mechanisms of group identification and belongingness constitute the basis for these benefits.

As we all realize, one of the growing problems in our society is the increase in the aged segment of our population. This increase is apparent not only in our communities, but also in our institutions. Recent surveys (1, 2), for example, have shown that elderly psychotic patients comprise roughly 1/3 of the entire patient population in neuropsychiatric hospitals at present and that within the next decade this number will increase markedly.