1st Edition

Changing Aging, Changing Family Therapy Practicing With 21st Century Realities

Edited By Paul R. Peluso, Richard E. Watts, Mindy Parsons Copyright 2012

    As the baby boomers move into retirement and later stages of life, gerontology and geriatrics have begun to receive much more attention. Changing Aging, Changing Family Therapy explores the ways in which family therapists’ expertise in systems theory makes them uniquely qualified to take a leading role in helping families and individuals cope with the challenges and changed circumstances that aging brings. Clinicians will find detailed coverage and practical guidelines on a wealth of vital topics, including coping with the illness of a parent or partner, working past retirement age, outliving one’s savings, preserving physical and mental well-being over time, and more.

    Part One.

    1. Raising Children Later in Life (children of your own or grandchildren)

    This chapter will specifically address:

    • The growing trend of grandparents being solely responsible for raising their grandchildren due to a parent’s incapacity (addictions, death, etc.), or inability to care for children.
    • The issue of multiple generation families living together (for economic reasons, other reasons) and the impact on all generations (children, parents, grandparents).
    • The rise in the number of families who chose to have children in their 40’s, 50’s and beyond who are having to parent children and teens in their 60’s or 70’s.

    2. Dealing with Parents or Partners Who Are Ill (Alzheimers, chronic conditions, etc.)

    This chapter will specifically address:

    • The complex issues and stresses of care-giving for a parent with a chronic disease
    • The complex issues and stresses of care-giving for an older spouse or partner with a chronic disease
    • The emerging field of medical family therapy, and the assistive qualities of total medical/mental health care.

    3. Workplace Issues (working later in life), Aging and Family Therapy

    This chapter will specifically address:

    • The phenomenon of individuals working past retirement age (by choice, because they can’t afford to retire)
    • Older individuals needing to find jobs because of job loss
    • Older individuals choosing to re-enter the workforce
    • Decisions about and adjustments in the family before and after retirement

    4. Financial Issues Related to Living Longer

    This chapter will specifically address:

    • Concerns about outliving one’s money, and demands on family
    • Changes in perception of wealth due to fluctuations in stock markets (positive and negative)
    • Impact of wealth status and family functioning in later life (both positive and negative)
    • Pressures and concerns for couples related to spending, and saving later in life

    5. Physical Health, Longevity, Aging and Family Therapy

    This chapter will specifically address:

    • The changes in the lifespan and its impact on couple dynamics
    • Advances in medical care, prevention of illness, and wellness
    • Maintaining physical and psychological functioning longer in a person’s lifespan
    • What happens as health begins to fail, and individuals experience personal limitations (and the impact on family life)

    6. Sexual Issues and Family Therapy

    This chapter will specifically address:

    • Issues related to health, sexual functioning and aging.
    • The changing views on sex and aging
    • The influence of pharmacological and other medical enhancement technology and sexuality in aging
    • Couples dynamics and changes to sexuality in aging

    7. Psychopathology, Aging, and Family Therapy

    This chapter will specifically address:

    • The prevalence of Axis I and Axis II disorders in older populations.
    • The issues managing lifelong psychopathology in aging spouses and parents
    • The issues managing acute psychopathology in aging spouses and parents (particularly as people live longer)

    8. Spirituality and Family Therapy

    This chapter will specifically address:

    • Changes in perspective as a result of age
    • Strength derived from spiritual beliefs
    • Unresolved issues of spirituality, purpose, being, etc.
    • Values and family life across the lifespan

    9. Death, Bereavement and Family Therapy

    This chapter will specifically address:

    • End of life issues
    • Losing friends to death
    • Loss of spouse to death
    • Changes in the family structure
    • Unresolved issues and death
    • Bereavement and the family

    Part Two: Professional Reminiscences from Master Therapists

    John Gottman

    Augustus Y. Napier

    Monica McGoldrick

    Jon Carlson

    Biography

    Paul R. Peluso, PhD, is an associate professor of mental health counseling in the department of counselor education at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. He is a licensed mental health counselor and marriage and family therapist and is the author of several books and journal articles on infidelity, counselor training, and couples therapy.

    Richard E. Watts, PhD, is distinguished professor of counseling and director of the Center for Research and Doctoral Studies in Counselor Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. He has published several books and numerous journal articles.

    Mindy Parsons is a licensed mental health counselor with a successful private practice in Delray Beach, Florida. She is a doctoral candidate at Florida Atlantic University and resides in southern Palm Beach County with her husband and their two children.

    "This beautifully constructed book identifies the key issues we must address in our work to help aging individuals and their families. Filled with compassion and insight, this wonderful volume examines aging from a family-systems perspective, discussing the shifting life challenges that the elderly encounter and the ways in which those challenges affect older men, women, and their loved ones. Changing Aging, Changing Family Therapy is one of those special books that practitioners will want to have at their fingertips to guide them as they help older clients and their families to manage and enjoy the latter stages of their lives."

    —Mark Kiselica, PhD, dean of education and professor of counselor education at the College of New Jersey

    "This book is what baby boomers have been waiting for. It is a timely assessment of the realities inherent in aging, and it is skillful in the way it equips therapists to work with clients both directly and indirectly affected by aging. Changing Aging, Changing Family Therapy is a must for practitioners, students, and professors."

    Rita Chi-Ying Chung, PhD, author of Social Justice Counseling: The Next Steps Beyond Multiculturalism

    "What an outstanding group of authors! From finance to health and from work to intimacy (including same-sex couples), this book covers the many critical aspects of what happens as we age and how this affects our relationships. Changing Aging, Changing Family Therapy is more than a book for professionals in the fields of gerontology or marriage and family therapy. Anyone who is in a relationship and is aging will gain critically important knowledge from this book."

    Mark Pope, EdD, professor of counseling and family therapy at the University of Missouri–Saint Louis and past president of the American Counseling Association

    "This book does an exceptional job presenting what no one has done: acclimatizing family therapy to the baby boomer population. The in-depth interviews with four of the family therapy masters are a rich addition to the book. This is a must read for family therapists our changing times."

    Fred Bemak, EdD, professor and director of the Diversity Research and Action Center, George Mason University

    "In general, the book educates family therapists and other counseling professionals on the many different factors to be considered in dealing with aging family systems… The overall strength of the book is that it is a very useful guide for any clinician, counselor, or related professional assisting aging clients and/or their family members. Changing Aging, Changing Family Therapy: Practicing With 21st Century Realities is a very useful resource for professionals working with clients in response to the normative stressor of aging and associated family system changes over time."

    Lisa Hollis-Sawyer, PhD, Activities, Adaptation & Aging, Volume 38, Issue 2, 2014