Toward Best Clinical Practices for Treating Depression in Older Adults

Abstract

This study examines the best clinical practices for counsellors supporting older adults with depression. The purpose was to develop a guideline of effective interventions for clinicians, supervisors, and policymakers in treating older adults struggling with depression. A best practices analysis was combined with a comprehensive literature review followed by a proposal for collecting expert opinion using methods derived from grounded theory and phenomenology. The discussion provides a synthesis of the most effective therapeutic interventions as presented in the literature. In those areas where research results were not available, directions for further study were suggested.