Cognitieve gedragstherapie voor depressie bij ouderen: Toepassing en aandachtspunten

With the growing life expectancy, the proportion of older adults in society is expanding. With increasing age, the risk of multimorbidity rises as well, which is associated with an increased risk to develop a depression. Depression is the most common mental disorder among older adults. Nevertheless, professional mental health services of psychotherapy seem to be underutilized by older adults. The current article discusses the presentation of depression among older adults, enabling better recognition of depression. Moreover, an overview of the evidence for the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating and preventing depression in older adults is provided. Although fewer studies on the effectiveness of psychological treatments, such as CBT, are available, similar effect sizes were found for older adults compared to adults. CBT has shown to be effective to treat and prevent depression in older adults, and its possible enduring effect may prevent relapse and/or recurrence.