Therapy and Aging: a positive experience

Therapy and aging too often bring assumptions–perhaps the most troubling is the assumption that one reaches a certain age beyond which development is no longer an option.

Hogwash. Therapy and aging can do better.

And we think this is at the heart of the trouble many people have with getting older (and let us remind you: we are all getting older). Development is a complicated concept, but for these purposes, we'll define it somewhat narrowly as the capacity to increase our ability to do new things.

Therapy and aging: New options for growth

Not only is it simply not true that our capacity for development shrinks with age, but it is also in fact critical for ongoing happiness that we prioritize development as we get older. That's right. To the extent that we think about development at all, it is thought of as a fairly circumscribed process that takes place "naturally" from birth into (roughly) early adulthood. What's implied (if not stated) is that at some point (generally that ambigous moment when we "become an adult") we're "developed." Which is to say, we no longer need to (nor can we) engage in an intentional, thoughtful endeavor to develop.

But that's precisely what we think is needed. Many of the so-called symptoms of aging, in our opinion, are symptoms of standing still developmentally speaking. For one thing, as we get older we often discover that things that worked very well for us no longer work. What's needed? We have to develop new ways of doing things! Sure, if you're out of practice, development will seem harder, and that can easily be mistaken as a function of age rather than a product of being out of practice.

How do we develop as we get older?

In many ways, we need to engage in many of the activities that children do--trying new things, putting ourselves in environments that place different sorts of demands on us and (wait for it)... playing.

That's right: We need to (re)learn to play! Because playing is a fantastic way to grow. What might that look like? Well, one of the best ways is to find others who are interested in developing with play as well (sort of a play-date for grown ups). In fact, group therapy is a great way to start.