The Empty Couch: The taboo of ageing and retirement in psychoanalysis

The Empty Couch is an introduction to the challenges and obstacles inherent in ageing as a psychoanalyst. It addresses the previously neglected issue of ill health, as well as the significance of ageing for psychoanalysts, exploring the analyst’s attitude towards getting older, impermanence and sense of time and space. Covering a wide range of topics Gabriele Junkers brings together expert contributors who discuss the problems of getting physically ill and how to conduct psychoanalysis as an ill therapist. Chapters also address the effects that ageing has on professional stamina, the grief inevitably caused by the losses endured in later life and inquires into the role that institutions (the relevant psychoanalytic institutes or societies) can play in this context. Setting out to encourage discussion on this vital topic, The Empty Couch brings this neglected area into sharp focus. It will be of interest to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, counsellors, gerontologists and trainees in the psychoanalytic and psychotherapy worlds.

About the Author

Gabriele Junkers, PhD, is a trained psychologist, psychoanalyst, training analyst and member of the German Psychoanalytic Association (DPV). She is a gerontologist with more than 30 years experience in training older adults and providing institutional counselling for mature people.