Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy of Anxiety Disorders in Elderly Patients

The need for psychotherapy for elder patients is constantly rising. Reasons are the changed population composition as well as the increased readiness of older patients to take up psychotherapy. Nevertheless, only a fraction of psychotherapeutic outpatient treatment is delivered to subjects age 60 and older. Possibly, treatment providers may be partially responsible since they often do not know whether standard treatment protocols for higher age are adequate. We present an overview of studies looking at treatment of anxiety disorders in older patients and discuss the question whether and which adaptation of the psychotherapeutic methodology is necessary. In particular, empirical data are presented concerning whether certain forms of the psychotherapy, e. g. exposure therapy, are contraindicated. In addition, an example of the treatment of an older patient with a specific phobia is reported.