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disadvantages of ageing
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The life expectancy of aging adults has increased therefore; the need for counseling psychologist to provide services to this population has become more prevalent now than ever before. Due to physical and psychological decline, dependency issues, unexpected loss of employment, societal consequences and death are all challenges that older adults face throughout the aging process. This chapter highlights the growing issues that older adults often face. Summary The authors, Hill, Thorn & Packard (2008) gave a brief outlook of both theoretical and empirical literature reviews of how older adults view themselves along with challenges that they may encounter. He mentioned ways in which psychologist can become more efficient in accommodating such population and provided recommendation for interventions and future …show more content…
It is said to remain more stable throughout aging. Another is fluid intelligence, which measured working memory such as speed and time, but known to decline as age increases. On the other hand, Atchley (1989), Continuity theory, was based on the premise of one 's sense of identity which was influenced by how they viewed themselves both internally and externally (Gamst, Der-Karabetian & 2008). Its constructs focused on the individual’s inner strength that was influenced by their past and societal structures such as culture, family and in the process helped to form internal identity. What the authors made aware that, even though older adults may be from different cultures or environments, they remain the same fundamentally across life span. Therefore, using an approach that would not only provide a framework for intervention, but can help to understand what factors contributed to the aging
An individual’s personality and character structure portrays a major reflection of how they age. Personality style and character structure both incorporate the conscious and unconscious motivational, cognitive and affective mental states, as well as defense mechanisms (Silver 1992). Biopsychosocial factors-broken down into biological, psychological, and sociocultural-also play a huge role in personality and aging (Notes 10/08). Some examples of biological factors are health, genetics, and physiological function. Thoughts, feelings, and emotions would be considered psychological factors. Sociocultural factors include family, religion and community. Additionally, people endure unique experiences and circumstances throughout their life course,
An interview was arranged with an older adult to discuss issues related to aging. The interview was designed to gain appreciation and understanding of an older adult. One theory of aging came into mind when I thought about this topic. Erik Erikson Life-Course and Personality Development theory, “Erikson described the task of old age as balancing the search for integrity and wholeness with a sense of despair.” NS is the older adult that I conducted the interview with. I’ve decided to pick NS to interview because she is very positive about life and her age. Everything that I have come across about aging is negative such as depression, isolation, and illness.
The thought of aging is not void of hesitance given it produces questions deprived of answers in the absence of a crystal ball. Subsequently, aging parallels the unknown; thus, faced with uncertainty adopting a positive perspective remains elusive. Although, it’s preferred to view aging optimistically one cannot escape its negative connotations. Will I be an active agent or isolated burden remains a noteworthy unknown that enervates my optimism. Another consideration leading to my vacillating view on aging is, not knowing to what degree personal competencies and capacities will carry forward, thereby affording autonomy in the elder years. However, as research suggest, the aging process transforms healthy adults into frail ones; thus, dashing one’s hope that such traits will endure (Friis, 2010). Incidentally, at age 48, these lingering questions will soon be answered. In the interim, there is an inherent responsibility to prepare physically, psychologically, and financially for entry into the aging population. Ideally, the goal is to
Darby, S. Marr, J. Crump, A Scurfield, M (1999) Older People, Nursing & Mental Health. Oxford: Buterworth-Heinemann.
After spending an afternoon interviewing my elderly father-in-law, I gained insight into how he perceives the aging process and the impact on the quality of his life. First, and foremost he viewed aging in a very positive and healthy manner. He believes that a positive attitude assists in accepting physical and psychosocial changes and enjoyed the fact that he and his wife are both physically fit and cognitively alert. He felt confident that advances made in health care and the quality of their lives would continue to be empowering. He enjoys the benefits of being a senior citizen including discounted travel, free education, and other incentives marketed towards seniors. He expressed a sense of well-being with respect to the numerous housing options geared towards the graying population, such as Retirement Villages, and assisted living. However, the subjects of Long Term Care, Social security reform and government involvement in health care reform were subjects he regarded with very strong negative emotions. During the interview these issues as related to his experiences with health care were discussed with zeal and frustration.
...th professionals, were significantly more cynical toward and distrustful of older adults” (p. 63). The findings in Meisner’s (2012) conveyed that physicians demonstrated attitudes about older patients including feelings of these individuals being “disengaged and unproductive” while assuming that these characteristics applied to all of the older patients regardless of each person’s actual abilities (p. 63). Combing all older adults into one category defined by disability and dysfunction is detrimental to the well-being of each patient. Chronological age is not the determining factor relative to treatment; functional age is a better testament to expected outcomes for a patient. It is imperative that physicians understand what is “normal aging” rather than searching for pathologies based on symptoms that are just part of this aging process. According to Meisner
More specifically, the transitions associated with later life like retirement, medical problems, death of a loved ones, reduced social networks leads to depression in aging population (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2009). It is seen that depression is one of the most common mental disorder among adults aged 65 and older (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2009).Depression is associated with anxiety and suffering that can lead to physical, mental, and social impairments. The presence of depressive disorders often negatively impact the course and complicates the treatment of other chronic diseases too (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2009).According to National Alliance of Mental Illness there are more than two million of the 40 million Americans age 65 and older who suffer from some form of depression (National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), 2009).
Cooley, S., Deitch, I., Harper, M., Hinrichsen, G., Lopez, M., & Molinari, V. (1998). What practioners should know about working with older adults. American Psychological Association, Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/gec/forms/practitioners_older_adults.pdf
Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence most people over the age of 65 are not Senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994). This change in perspective led the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal Royal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generatively, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological und...
Older adults are a very knowledgeable population and have had a lot of life experiences. As people age, things start to change physically, mentally, and socially. It’s important to understand the process of aging, so that older adults can be taken care of properly. I interviewed P.R. who is a 71-year-old male that lives alone in his home. P.R. is a retired coal miner, and is currently living off his social security and savings. He lives close to both his daughter and son, who frequently help him out with things that are needed. P.R. was able to give me a lot of insight about specific challenges that he has experienced in his life that is associated with aging. I will be discussing challenges that P.R experienced physically, mentally,
Late adulthood should be a time in a person's life where they feel fulfilled. They can look back on their memories and be happy with the way they have lived their life. Now, too many elderly people are not satisfied and look at this stage as depressing. Most fear death of either a loved one or for themselves. This topic is interesting to me because elderly people should make the best of their last stage of life. This topic discusses about getting older, the life changes that they go through physically, emotionally, and mentally. We should know more about it so that we can help our family and friends get through one of the best, yet toughest part of our mortal life.
Several barriers exist, for example, some practitioners feel as if they have limited experience in this area, many feel older adults are depressed and lonely, and it may be a challenge to work with them. However, over the last 30 years the field has made significant progress and more social workers are taking an interest in working with this population. The writer enjoyed this assignment because she was challenged to reflect on her views regarding older adults. It was easy for her to dismiss their existence and what they have to offer because they function differently from the writer. This situation opened the writer’s eyes because she never took the time to assess this population’s strengths. If the individual in the store were someone she knew, she would have behaved differently. The writer recognizes this man may be someone’s cousin, father, granddad, friend and husband. Therefore, he should be treated with dignity and respect and not minimized because he moves a little slower than others. This reflection is a reminder that she to assess and evaluate her biases regarding older adults because they are just as significant as any other
Ageing is a continuing life cycle, it is an ongoing developmental event that brings certain changes in one’s own psychological and physical state. It is a time in one's own life where an elderly individual reminisce and reflect, to bask and live on previous accomplishments and begin to finish his life cycle. There is a significant amount of adjusting that requires an elderly individual to be flexible and develop new coping skills to adapt in the changes that are common in their new life. (Dhara & Jogsan, 2013).
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.
America is a country where everyone is free to live however they like, but it is possible for some people to live a happy life, if no one is around to take care of them. Nearly three hundred million people reside in the America, and out of those three hundred million populations, senior citizens make a 12 percent of the entire population. A senior citizen is commonly known as a person who is over the age of 65 and living on retirement, or known as social security benefits (Census Bureau). Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt implied the act of Social Security in 1935, seniors are regularly provided a financial help, but seniors, along with financial help, seeks also accompany of someone who can look after them. Because of constantly growing needs of senior citizens, government as well as many non-profit organizations is working on helping seniors. Therefore I decided to research on this particular issue in my community, and I found that 64.5% of seniors are living alone in metropolitan area of Atlanta.