Encounters with older lesbians in psychiatric practice

Abstract

This paper starts from the feminist perspective that the problems experienced by older lesbians need to be understood in their political and socio-cultural context. Given that we live in a society that pathologizes sexual activity beyond the reproductive years and lesbianism at any age, and which labels old people as asexual, lesbians frequently present to practitioners in unorthodox ways. This is perhaps because internalized oppression and fears of being labelled ‘sick’, ‘deviant’, ‘sexless’, and even ‘psychogeriatric’ silence them. Case material is presented in an attempt to illustrate an eclectic basis for practice which reflects the experience of older lesbians. Despite the traditional view that older people are unsuitable for the psychotherapies and respond better to more ‘medical’ therapies (drugs, electroconvulsive therapy, etc.), this paper demonstrates that therapy can be helpful and relevant to older lesbians when the therapist does not construct the patient's lesbianism as a basic problem.