You’re Not Too Old to Talk to Someone

Three years ago, Janet Burns felt herself sliding into depression, a too-familiar state. Ms. Burns, a retired federal worker living in Rockville, Md., grew up in a home she described as abusive, with an alcoholic father. Sometimes, she said, “I get into a slump and can’t get out.” Several times, psychotherapy had helped her regain her equilibrium.

Then her father died. “It brought up a lot of stuff I thought I had dealt with,” she said. Experiencing both guilt and relief, and feeling responsible for her mother and an ailing sister, she began to suffer anxiety, insomnia, exhaustion. Sometimes she found it hard to get out of bed. “I needed some more help,” she decided.

Ms. Burns, 75, found a new counselor and saw her weekly for a couple of months, then every other week. “She helped me put this in perspective and lift the burden I was putting on myself,” Ms. Burns said. “She gave me some tools, mental exercises to do when the pressures were on.”

The coronavirus pandemic has brought fresh pressures. Ms. Burns has had to largely suspend her volunteer work, and she and her husband have been unable to visit their children and grandchildren. She’s handling it, she said.

But, she added, it was reassuring to know that she could turn to her counselor again if necessary: “It’s like a safety net. This is someone I trust, who knows my history, and that’s comforting. I wish everybody had it.”

Health experts and practitioners also wish that more older adults could access psychotherapy and other kinds of mental health care, especially now. Mental health problems have risen markedly during the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported.