Individual Psychotherapy
Individual Psychotherapy Program
Founded by Dr. Lyris Salvi and Dane Fisher, MS, the Integrated Psychology Group (IPG) was established to address the growing need for specialized mental healthcare tailored to older adults. With a foundation built on respect and understanding, IPG recognizes that aging is a transformative phase offering unique opportunities for personal growth and adaptation.
Program Overview
Leveraging neuroscientific research, which highlights that the mature mind of older adults reflects a lifetime of brain development, IPG embraces the capacity for deep insight and meaningful change inherent in this stage of life. The Group is committed to tailoring mental healthcare to the distinct characteristics of the mature mind, using a strength-based approach that harnesses the lifetime of wisdom each client brings to therapy. This approach facilitates therapeutic exploration and transformation, enabling clients to reconcile their past with their aspirations for the future while addressing their mental, emotional, and physical needs.
Whether addressing acute symptoms such as depression, anxiety, grief, regret, or irritability, or exploring aspects of life that may remain unresolved, IPG’s providers are mindful of the contextual factors of age, generational influences, and individual life stories.
IPG adopts an interdisciplinary approach, recognizing the complex interplay between aging, physical health, and mental well-being. The Group is dedicated to understanding and addressing clients’ medical needs, with a focus on integrating physical and mental health. This includes healthspan planning and supporting behavioral changes to enhance overall well-being. Specifically, IPG offers evidence-based care for clients dealing with chronic pain, utilizing cognitive-behavioral techniques to facilitate healing, as well as specialized treatment for insomnia and sleep-related difficulties.
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HAROLD'S STORY
Background
Harold, a 68-year-old retired high school teacher, had recently experienced the profound loss of his wife, with whom he had shared 45 years of marriage. Since her passing, Harold had been struggling with severe depression. He was experiencing persistent sadness, difficulty sleeping, and a significant loss of appetite. Additionally, Harold had lost interest in activities he once enjoyed, such as gardening and reading, and felt increasingly isolated from his friends and family. The emotional weight of his grief had also led him to withdraw from social engagements, compounding his sense of loneliness and despair. Harold felt that he had not developed effective skills for identifying, regulating, and communicating his emotions. He found it challenging to understand his feelings fully, manage them constructively, and express them to others, which had further intensified his sense of isolation and frustration.
How the Program Helped
Individual Psychotherapy provided Harold with a compassionate and confidential setting to navigate his grief and manage his depressive symptoms. Therapy offered specialized therapeutic interventions to address Harold’s experience of loss and his difficulties with emotional skills. Through the course of therapy, Harold gained skills to identify his emotions and express them to friends and family. Harold felt that he learned skills in therapy that he had not acquired throughout his life. He, felt that because his parents were emotionally reserved he was not provided a foundation for emotional insight and expression. At the completion of therapy, Harold felt capable of managing his grief, expressing his emotions, incorporating mindfulness into his daily life, and returning to his social and pleasurable activities.