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APA Psychotherapy Training Videos are intended solely for educational purposes for mental health professionals. Viewers are expected to treat confidential material found herein according to strict professional guidelines. Unauthorized viewing is prohibited.
In Parenting Our Elderly Parents, Dr. Patricia J. Pitta demonstrates her approach to working with clients who are in the position of caretaker for their aging parents. Therapy with these clients is challenging, as it involves the family system, parental relationships, changing power dynamics between parents and children, and coping with cognitive and physical decline in loved ones.
Goals in this type of therapy include helping to realign power in relationships, identifying and resolving intergenerational conflicts, and helping caregivers to get support for themselves.
In this session, Dr. Pitta helps a man who is taking care of his elderly mother to set boundaries, cope with his mother's decline, and to seek out resources for support.
Before working with a family, it is essential to understand how the family functions in terms of its overall anxiety levels, levels of differentiation, degree of emotional cut-offs, fusion, intergenerational family processes of relating, and areas of conflict. These processes occurring between younger and older family members are building blocks to ensure healthy and balanced attachments. Information about family functions can be attained through the interview process by the creation of a genogram.
Read more about the approach
received her doctorate from Fordham University in New York. She is currently an adjunct professor at St. John's University and in private practice in Manhasset, New York. Dr. Pitta developed the theory of integrative healing family therapy as applied to children, adolescents, couples, and families dealing with issues throughout the life cycle.
She is a diplomate of the Board of Family Psychology, a fellow of the Board of the Academy of Family Psychology, past president of the Academy of Family Psychology, and past president of the Long Island Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. Dr. Pitta is author and coauthor of numerous articles, books, and other publications and also gives professional presentations and interviews for television, magazines, and newspapers.
- Armstrong, M. J., & Goldstein, K. S. (1990). Friendship support patterns of older American women. Journal of Aging Studies, 4, 391–404.
- Belsky, J. (l997). Growing old in families. In I. Deitch & C. Howell (Eds.), Counseling the aging and their families: The family psychology and counseling series. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
- Berman, R., & Shulman, B. (2001). How to survive your aging parents. Chicago: Surrey Books.
- Brok, A. (l997). Parent and adult child: Unresolved issues of individuation. In I. Deitch & C. Howell (Eds.), Counseling the aging and their families: The family psychology and counseling series. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
- Chisholm, J. (l999). Sandwich generation. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 8 (3), 177–191.
- Deitch, I. (l997). When golden pond it tainted: Domestic violence and the elderly. In I. Deitch & C. Howell (Eds.), Counseling the aging and their families: The family psychology and counseling series. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
- Doka, K. (l997). The effects of parental illness and loss on adult children. In I. Deitch & C. Howell (Eds.), Counseling the aging and their families: The family psychology and counseling series. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
- George, L., & Gwyther, L. (l986). Caregiver well-being a multidimensional examination of family caregivers of demented adults. The Gerontologist, 26, 253–265.
- Goldstein, M. (l990). The role of mutual support groups and family therapy for caregivers of demented elderly. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23 (2), 117–128.
- Hamon, R., & Blieszner, R. (l990). Filial responsibility expectations among adult child-older parent pairs. Journal of Gerontology, 45, 110–112.
- Pitta, P. (l996, Summer). Psychodynamic and systemic integration theory: Application to the individual. Psychotherapy Bulletin, 31(3).
- Pitta, P. (l996, Fall). Marital therapy: A search for the self and each other-a systemic psychodynamic integrated approach. Psychotherapy Bulletin, 31 (4). (American Psychological Association, Division 29 newsletter)
- Pitta, P. (l996, Summer). Family therapy treatment issues: Family therapy integration. Independent Practitioner, 6 (3). (American Psychological Association, Division 42 newsletter)
- Pitta, P. (l996, Fall/Winter). Psychodynamic-systemic integration in family therapy. Family matters. (New York: Association of Marriage and Family Therapy newsletter)
- Pitta, P. (l997, Winter). Marital therapy. A systemic psychodynamic integrated approach: A case study. Psychotherapy Bulletin, 32 (1). (American Psychological Association, Division 29 newsletter)
- Pitta, P. (l999). Marital therapy. Practice information clearinghouse of knowledge. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, Division 42.
- Pitta, P. (2002, Summer). Integrative healing family therapy: A therapy of choice for the adolescent centered family. Family Psychologist, 18 (3). (American Psychological Association, Division 43 newsletter)
- Troll, L. E. (l994). Family connectedness of old women: Attachments in later life. In B. F. Turner & L. E. Troll (Eds.), Women growing older (pp. 141–169). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Casebook for Integrating Family Therapy: An Ecosystemic Approach
Edited by Susan H. McDaniel, Don-David Lusterman, and Carol L. Philpot
- Clinical Geropsychology
Edited by Inger Hilde Nordhus, Gary R. VandenBos, Stig Berg, and Pia Fromholt
- Emerging Issues in Mental Health and Aging
Edited by Margaret Gatz
- Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Older Adults
Gregory A. Hinrichsen and Kathleen F. Clougherty
- Integrating Family Therapy: Handbook of Family Psychology and Systems Theory
Edited by Richard H. Mikesell, Don-David Lusterman, and Susan H. McDaniel
- A Guide to Psychotherapy and Aging: Effective Clinical Interventions in a Life-Stage Context
Edited by Steven H. Zarit and Bob G. Knight
- Mental Health Services for Older Adults: Implications for Training and Practice in Geropsychology
Edited by Bob G. Knight, Linda Teri, Paul Wohlford, and John Santos
- Psychology and the Aging Revolution: How We Adapt to Longer Life
Edited by Sara Honn Qualls and Norman Abeles
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