Compassion Focused Therapy for an Older Adult with Complex Emotional Needs: A Case Study and Considerations for Practice

‘Personality disorders’ (referred to as complex emotional needs in this report) are common in older adults. Yet they are often under-recognised which impacts access to appropriate care pathways. Once in services, older adults lack the same access to specialist mental health care as adults, and the evidence base in older adults with complex emotional needs is sparse. Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is an approach that has shown promise for those with complex emotional needs. This case report presents a 12-session CFT intervention, delivered to an older adult female with complex emotional needs, in an NHS mental health setting. Post-intervention, small improvements in self-compassion were found. However, there were no reliable changes in anxiety or mood, and functioning declined. CFT has the potential to be an effective intervention for treating complex emotional needs in older adults, but further research is needed to build on the preliminary findings observed in this report.