Practice Of Horticultural Therapy And Nostalgic Therapy To Improve The Depression Of Elderly Living Alone In Cities

Under the background of the progress of medical and health undertakings and the rapid development of economy,the average life expectancy continues to improve.The aging trend of population is inevitable.The speed of the growth of the old population is also rapid growth.Due to the change of modern life style and the adjustment of family structure,the proportion of elderly people living alone is rising.As a more vulnerable group among the elderly,the elderly living alone face many problems in their daily life,and their living situation and mental health should be paid more attention.Depressed mood is a common problem among elderly people living alone.Affected by depressed mood,they often show low mood,declining interest,slow thinking,and unwillingness to contact others.If depressed mood cannot be effectively improved,it will seriously affect the quality of life and life of elderly people living alone.How to help elderly people living alone improve their depression and make them happier in their later years is not only the focus of national and social attention,but also the direction of social work for the elderly.This paper takes A community in Fuxin City as the research site,and takes the elderly living alone in A community as the research object to carry out a practical research on the improvement of depression of the elderly living alone in the city.Through field visits to elderly people living alone,in-depth communication activities were carried out.Through investigation and research,it is found that many elderly people living alone with depression will be depressed,unhappy,neurasthenia,difficulty concentrating,often feel hopeless and helpless,insomnia and dreams and other symptoms.In this paper,an elderly person living alone with multiple problems is selected as the client of this case intervention.Based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and Erikson’s personality development theory,horticultural therapy and nostalgic therapy are adopted to design indoor gardening themed activities,and the effectiveness of the combination of the two methods in improving depressive mood is explored to help her improve depressive mood.Promote the healthy development of body and mind,enhance the sense of self-worth,meet the spiritual and cultural needs,so as to make their later life happier.The innovation of this paper lies in the method of case work,which combines horticulture therapy and memorial therapy to improve the depressed mood of the elderly living alone in the case activities,gives full play to the advantages and functions of different therapies,and achieves the effect of "1+1>2".Through the evaluation of the case activities and the feedback of the clients’ satisfaction with the whole activities,This case intervention activity indeed improved the client’s depressed mood and improved the client’s living standard.However,this case intervention work also has some shortcomings,such as not being particularly proficient in flower planting technology and the elderly living alone lack understanding of social workers.In short,more research and efforts are needed to improve depression among elderly people who live alone.