Aging, Mourning, and the Search for Meaning

1. Aging, Mourning, and the Search for Meaning 2007 Summer II Dusana Rybarova

2. Aspects of life new to the aging phase: • Increasing number of losses to death • Search for meaning in our living • Most older adults become more involved in improving society • Become more compassionate to the needs of others • Perceive it as a time to become closer to family and friends • Some stagnate and become excessively concerned with their own needs, self-absorbed and egocentric • Erik Eriksons stages: • Integrity vs despair • Facing end of the life with satisfaction, fulfillment • Facing life with feeling of missed opportunities or directions

3. Suicide in Old Age • The risk of suicide grows with age • Each year 6,300 older adults (mostly male) • Possible reasons • People living longer with chronic illness • Social isolation • Accumulation of multiple losses • Loss of parental and work roles • Lessening of activity

4. Chronic illness • Physiological and psychological declines • Depression and diagnosis of terminal illness • Increased passivity and loneliness • Lack of meaning because of a reduction in purposeful activity • Multiple losses • Rapid succession of losses (job, status, spouse, peers, good health, social freedom) • Often results in depression – most common illness in the elderly • Alcoholism • Alcohol abuse enhances depression and exacerbates negative life events • Bereaved adults experience a significant increase in alcohol consumption • Death of a spouse • Loneliness and a need for companionship • Widows are usually able to cope better than widowers

5. Loss and Mourning in Old Age • The Death of a Pet • Pets as companions • Talking to and stroking a pet promotes relaxation and lowers blood pressure • Life with a pet linked to higher survival rates in patients with heart disease, increased self-confidence and independence in psychiatric patients • Animal assisted therapy programs • Effective medium for increasing socialization • Increased sense of purpose and self-esteem • Grief after death of a pet but also not being able to care for a pet, what happens to the pet if they die

6. Loss and Mourning in Old Age • The Death of an Adult Child • Survivor guilt - Often they would prefer death to that of their child • Sometimes little social recognition of their loss, since child’s spouse and children are the ones in primary grief • Difficulty in grieving process of children with AIDS, especially homosexuals • The Death of a Spouse • Rumination over the death (tendency to think about and relive memories, repeatedly) associated with higher and longer depression • Spouse’s recovery from grief is quicker and more complete when the marriage was happy • Spouse’s from unhappy marriage have longer and more complicated grief – feelings of guilt, unfinished business, unresolved anger

7. The broken heart syndrome • The tendency of one elderly spouse, usually male, to die shortly after the death of the other • Beck’s cognitive distortion model – cognitive triad of negative thoughts • Misinterpretation of facts in a negative way • Focus on the negative aspects of any situation • Pessimistic and hopeless expectations about future • Learned Helplessness • Problems as internal or external • Global-specific continuum • Stable (chronic) or unstable (acute)

8. The broken heart syndrome • Psychodynamic perspective • Consequence of separation of a child from an important figure during early childhood • Correlation between loss of mother in childhood and adult depression • The humanistic – existential perspective • Loss of self-esteem in the here and now • Collapse of the individual’s sense of self as a result of death of his/her spouse

9. Aging, Empowerment, and Meaning • As elders, we crease new definitions of wellness, learn to empower ourselves • Graying America • 1 in 100 of those born 1979 to 1981 will reach 100 years of age • In 2025 there will be more people over 65 in the world than current total population of Europe and North America

10. Aging, Empowerment, and Meaning • Aging, Beauty, and the Body • Those who place importance on their body image experience more depression and anxiety associated with aging • People who place importance on non-physical attributes (intelligence, interpersonal skills, etc.) feel young and accept the inevitable physical decline • Shift from valuing physical powers to valuing wisdom and relationships • Health-oriented response patterns among aging Americans • Health vigilants (believe that diet, vitamins, and execise can conquer virtually any health threat) • True believers (illness is best to be resisted through positive thinking, faith, prayer, optimism and friendship) • Fatalists (believe that their health is determined by fate and luck or genes and they can not influence it)

11. Self-esteem and empowerment in old age • Social breakdown syndrome (SBS) – negative adjustment in old age (Kuypers & Bengtson, 1973) • An existing susceptibility to psychological breakdown • Labeling of the older person as incompetent or deficient by family or doctors • Induction into a sick role • Identification with the sick role • Empowerment • Process of helping people to feel a sense of control over their lives to counter SBS • Changing stereotypes and beliefs of aging person • Developing valued roles for elders at home, hospital and community

12. Empowerment through wellness • Wellness • Active process of living in which persons strive to achieve a sense of balance and integration among their mind, body and emotions • Focus on self-responsibility • Physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being • Most importantly – assuming responsibility for our own well-being

13. Coming to terms with Death: Motifs of Meaning • Death as an organizer of time • Those who talk about ‘time remaining’ have more favorable attitudes toward life • Death as a fear to be conquered • Those who talk about death, make concrete preparations for death, have achieved their goals, and are religious have less anxiety of death • Death as punishment and loss • Young people perceive death as loss of opportunity to experience things • Older people perceive death as loss of time to complete their inner work • Death as counterpoint • Expanded appreciation of everyday moments