(Video) 102-Year-Old Psychoanalyst Still Provides Sage Advice

It's really just like putting one foot in front of the other, said Dr. Hedda Bolgar about practicing psychotherapy past the age of 100.  

The 102-year-old Brentwood resident has been working as a clinician since the "Big Depression," she said, and is the oldest living member of the American Psychological Association, a 70-year-old designation.

In 1974, Bolgar founded the Wright Institute of Los Angeles out of the need she saw for affordable, non-medical psychoanalytic training.

"(My) family motto really was that if there was an unmet need around—whether it's individual or a small group or society—we try to meet it," Bolgar said.

The psychotherapist was recently presented with America's Outstanding Oldest Worker Award in Washington D.C. by Experience Works, an organization that helps train low-income old people for employment and community service. The term "old people" is one that is often avoided, said Bolgar, but she embraces it.

Bolgar has seen a lot of trends come and go over the years. Many of the patients she has seen in recent years are being affected by the state of the economy, much like her patients were when she started practicing psychotherapy in the late-1930s.

"A lot of it sort of seems familiar again, except that in the Big Depression … there was hope," Bolgar said. "Right now we are not in a state of hope yet."

A vivacious Bolgar said she will keep working until she can't anymore. Until then, it's one foot in front of the other.

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