ABSTRACT
Emanuela, 70 years old, told to the author in their first theraputic session to be truly extraordinary. It was through reading Growing Old that Emanuela realized that virtually all of the major decisions in her life–which looked so unusual and remarkable from the outside–had in fact been made as a way of doing what others had wanted of her. That "woman psychoanalyst" was Danielle Quinodoz, who was herself in her early 70s when she wrote Growing Old. Danielle was inspired to write the book through her experiences with elderly patients in psychotherapy with her, consulting at the Geriatrics Unit of the University Hospital in Geneva, and facing her own mortality. The heart of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and counseling is the experience of intimate, often difficult human encounters. The author's clients' therapeutic efforts and the challenges and changes in his growth as a psychotherapist will offer readers a portrait of psychotherapy that is both alive and realistic.
