Effects of the Integrativ Play THERAPEUTIC COUNSELING Program on the Depression of the Elderly

Abstract

Purpose: The present research attempted to find whether there was any relevance between integrative play therapeutic counseling programs and the lessening of depression among the elderly who had expe-rienced a sexually inequal society, and whether the experiment group which took part had different re-sults from that which did not take part. Method: The research targeted the 24 elderly people over 63 years of age and divided them into an experiment group of 11 and a control group of 13. The program happened 12 times in 90 minute intervals. The data was handled with the SPSS 18.0 program and was analysed using the covariance method with the prior score for depression serving as the covariate. After the program was done, 2 of the experiment group members were used for personal case studies. Results: First, the experiment group which took part in the therapeutic program displayed a meaning-ful decrease in the depression level while the control group which did not take part had no meaningful changes. Second, in the personal case study it was found that the present program is effective in lessening depression. Conclusion: First, the cognitive distortion and self management skills were expounded upon, which led to the decrease in depression level. Second, it was found that they were mostly professional retirees and the well educated who had teaching occupations. Third, the figure play with family symbols was shown to be a desirable activity in determining the understanding of self and the dynamics between family members. Fifth, at the end of each interval the elders shared empathy and support for each other and repeatedly cried “Let’s put our best foot forward now and today”. Sixth, in the activity in which a distorted cognitive structure was reformed, the messages of comfort and reinforcement also affected the outcome. Seventh, the present program has the effect of decreasing the depression level of the elderly, and may provide preliminary data in developing a program on depression of the elderly in the future.