GROUP, Vol. 35, No.i,March 2011 Introduction: The Aging of Group Therapists J.Scott Rutan1 Forageisopportunity nolessthan youth itself, though inanother dress, andasthe evening twilight fades away, thesky isfilled with stars, invisible byday. - Henry Wads worth Longfellow AGING Views aboutaging vary widely according toculture andepoch.Plato venerated aging, viewing itasthepinnacle ofunderstanding andwisdom, whereas Aristotle viewed midlife as thebestoftimesfor humans. GeorgeBernard Shaw, ontheother hand, noted, "Youth isa wonderful thing. Whata crime towasteitonchildren." In modern culture, theconcept ofretirement givesagingnewdefinition - itis a timewhenoneno longer works, no longer earnsan income, anda timewhen, presumably, onecanenjoythebenefits ofa lifetime ofwork. Butfor many, itmeans feeling that they arenolonger productive members ofsociety. Thetimein lifewhentheroadahead is muchshorter thantheroadbehind is a timeforassessing decisions made.Forsome,itis a timeofenormous regret, whereas forothers, itis one ofprofound satisfaction. Forstillothers, itis a time toaccomplish goalssetlongbefore. Thesedifferences certainly influence howone feels aboutaging. Advances inmodernmedicine meanwecanexpecttolivemuchlonger than inprior centuries. Theaverage lifeexpectancy intheUnited States is77.5 years, up from 49.2years atthebeginning ofthe20thcentury (Shrestha, 2006).Weareliving longer, butwestill getold- evengrouptherapists. Allwhogetolderexperience thebiological impacts ofaging:achesandpains lastlonger, hairturns gray, recallofnamesbecomesdifficult. On theother hand, 1 Senior faculty and cofounder, Boston Institute for Psychotherapy, Brookline, and private practice, Chestnut Hill (Newton), Massachusetts. Correspondence should beaddressed toJ. Scott Rutan, 71Waban Hill Road, Chestnut Hill, MA02467. E-mail: scottrutan@scottrutan.com. ISSN 0362-4021©2011 Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society 3 4 RUTAN thebenefits ofexperience andwisdom seemundiminished. Thestate ofonesphysicalhealth dramatically informs howonefeels aboutaging.Ifhealthis essentially intact, advanced years canbejoyous.Buteventhemostproductive andsuccessful life becomesvery hardas health deteriorates. GROUP THERAPY Thepractical useofgrouppsychotherapy canbetraced tothe1940s.Itissaidthat "necessity isthemother ofinvention,"2 andinWorld WarII thenumber ofsoldiers requiring psychotherapy dramatically outnumbered thepsychotherapists in the field. Grouppsychotherapy wasinstituted purely asa practical meansofproviding service toincreasing numbers ofpeopleinneed.However, as groupleaders began towork with their groups, they begantoseethat groups hadparticular effectiveness as a treatment modality, andthusgrouptherapy cametobe. Ourforefathers wholedthoseearliest groups aregone, andthesucceeding generation ofgroup therapists isnowfacing theendofprofessional careers. Forgroup therapists whocharacteristically lovetheir groups, theprospect ofgiving them up is notan easyone.Yet,ultimately, all agingprofessionals musthonestly facethe question: Do myyearsofexperience makememoreskilled thanever, oramI no longer competent todo mysupremely important job? Thistimely special issueconsiders topics relevant toouraging asgroup therapists. Theauthors presented herehaveprovided notonlya scholarly examination ofthe issuesinvolved butalso a highly personalreflection on howthey havedealtwith their ownaging. Somehaveendedtheir professional careers, whereas others arein themidst ofliving outtheir final yearsofpractice. (Andsome,likeSchwartz and Schwartzberg andSteiner, areyounger professionals writing abouttopics important tothoseofuswhoareolder.) Thisspecialissuepresents a variety oftopics relevant toaginggroup therapists. Thesetopics willeventually becomerelevant toeveryone. Apart from thewaythey influence professional practice, agingand deathareprimary sourcesofhuman anxiety, as Weberemphasizes. Fieldsteel recounts whatshelearnedfrom closing herlongtime practice. Shepoints outthat weareallagingandthat perhaps a more proper title forthisspecialissuewouldbe "TheAgedGroupTherapist." Schwartz andSchwartzberg, twoofouryounger authors, speaknotoftheaging therapist but oftreating elderly patients inpsychodynamic groups. Asweageas therapists, our patient populations tendtoageaswell, andthismayevokestrong countertransferencereactions . Steiner, another ofouryounger authors, writes abouttheimportance ofhaving a professional will.Thoughofspecialinterest tothosewhoarecloseto closing their practices, thisisa topicofimportance toallwhopractice becausewe never know whenwemaybeforced tostopseeing ourpatients. Liebenberg hadthe 2 Most attribute this quote toPlatos The Republic ;however, nowhere inThe Republic dothese words appear. Introduction: The Aging ofGroup Therapists 5 interesting experience ofwriting hercontribution whileinthemidst ofclosing her practice. Ina personal communication, shesaid,"Agreat many patients I hadseen years before wanted tocomefor a closure meeting. Itwaslikethey wanted toviewthe coffin!" KibelandAronson offer a memorial toSaulScheidlinger, oneofthegiants inourfield, whosedeathwasannounced as thisissuewasbeingplanned. Youcha alsorecounts workwitha specific groupandhowheandthemembers dealwith hisaging andtheir own.Finally, Moskowitz writes a highly personal account ofher work with a group that beganin1979 andofhercoming togrips with herownaging. Theendstages ofa longandproductive career offer uniqueopportunities tohelp patients witha number ofimportant issues:mortality, endings, saying good-bye, andmoving on,tomention a few. Itis a timefilled withaffect fortherapists and patients alike,onefilled withpotential forgreat growth orenormous pitfalls. Itis never toolatetobeginconsidering howonewillendonescareer. REFERENCE Shrestha, L.B. (2006).Life expectancy intheUnited States (CRSReport No.RL32792). Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. ...