Unit 8-Growing Old

Unit 8 Growing old: A Psychological Approach SECTION 1 There are some interesting psychological theories concerning old age.

They give us some advice to face old age. The most important are Jungs and Eriksons theories. Jung is considered the father of ANALYTIC PSYCHOLOGY while Erikson is considered the father of PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

CARL GUSTAV JUNG Jung was a psychologist and a psychiatrist who founded analytic psychology. He proposed and developed the concepts of the extroverted and introverted personality archetypes, and the collective unconscious.(sviluppa il concetto di ARCHETIPI della personalit estroversa e introversa, e il concetto di inconscio collettivo) He also studied the old age problems and said that a lot of elderly people just think about their past and are indifferent to the present because they have not understood the real meaning of life. So they are afraid of their future because it will bring them to death.(crede che molti anziani siano indifferenti alla loro vita presente e pensino in continuazione al passato. Questo accade perch non hanno compreso il vero significato della vita. Inoltre hanno paura del futuro perch lo associano alla morte) According to Jung, only through introspection the individual reaches a feeling of satisfaction and completeness that makes his life meaningful and its end acceptable(lintrospezione la via da seguire per raggiungere la soddisfazione e per dare un senso alla vita. In questo modo la morte pu diventare accettabile) ERIK ERIKSON Eriksons theory on social development considers the entire life cycle and recognizes the impact of society, history and culture on personality. His theory, very famous for the concept of the identity crises, consists of eight stages of development. The last stage is referred to older people and begins sometimes around retirement (around sixty). (analizza lintero ciclo di vita dellindividuo . Individua 8 stadi di sviluppo, lultimo inizia intorno ai 60 anni, cio con il pensionamento) The task is to develop EGO INTEGRITY. Around retirement there is a sense of despair that comes from a sense of uselessness; then there are the illnesses of old age and the concerns of death (friends die, relatives die, ones spouse dies). Moreover, some older people become preoccupied with their past actions, their bad decisions and their failures. So they become depressed, paranoid and hypocondriacal (typical traits of senility). (Gli anziani si sentono inutile, hanno paura delle malattie e della morte, pensano con rimpianto al passato, alle scelte sbagliate. Iniziano dunque a diventare depressi, paranoici e ipocondriaci. Per superare questi problemi devono sviluppare quella che Erickson definisce INTEGRITA DELLEGO) If elderly people are able to develop EGO INTEGRITY, they can come to the end of life accepting the course of events, the choices made and they wont fear death

SECTION 2----- OLD AGE: PAST AND PRESENT The family, both nuclear and extended, has always represented a social institution whose roots lie at the beginning of mankind. During the past, in agricultural societies there was the extended, patriarchal family, composed of grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, cousins, parents and children. In that kind of family older people had a leading role and everything was under the authority of the pater familias, the eldest man of the group, whose main duty was to maintain the family possessions and to pass them on to the descendants. With the advent of the Industrial revolution- in the 19 th century the agricultural economy was replaced by factories, people moved to towns and a large urbanization took place. As a consequence, the patriarchal family turned into the nuclear family, composed only of parents and children. In the nuclear family the position of older people changed too and our modern society, based on efficiency and productivity, marginalized them to the simple role of grandparents that look after their grandchildren
TYPES OF FAMILIES
MEMBERS Grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, cousins, parents, children Large families, typical of agricultural societies
FEATURES Parents, children
PATRIARCHAL OR EXTENDED FAMILY NUCLEAR FAMILY
Small families, typical of industrial societies
SECTION 3---- ELDERLY PEOPLE LIVING ALONE Elderly people living alone have to face(affrontare) a lot of (molti)problems. They are affected by the death of their loved ones or their children living home (morte del coniuge e I figli che lasciano casa). If they are ill, they can refuse(rifiutarsi) to go to hospital because they fear (hanno paura) they will be evicted (sfrattati) or locked out (chiusi fuori) when they come back(quando tornano). Their main problems are loneliness (solitudine), isolation, depression and self-neglect ( trascurano se stessi). Even the condition of the house -such as the floors, damp walls (umidit) and bad sanitation(scarsa pulizia)- can contribute to illness and disease. Keeping them company, doing simple jobs and giving practical aid (aiuto) is a good way to help them ELDERLY PEOPLE LIVING IN CARE SETTINGS Some elderly people decide to live in a care setting because they want to escape from the grief (dolore) caused by a bereavement (lutto) or because they want to escape from isolation and loneliness (solitudine). Living in a care setting is also a good way to meet new friends. But there are also some disadvantages. For example they have to change their habits and to get used to a new routine. They can also lose their privacy and independence as they have people around all the time. However, living in a care
setting gives a lot of advantages too. They can get accommodation (alloggio), meals (pasti) and personal care.

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Unit 8 Growing old: A Psychological Approach SECTION 1 There are some interesting psychological theories concerning old age.

FEATURES Parents, children

PATRIARCHAL OR EXTENDED FAMILY NUCLEAR FAMILY

Small families, typical of industrial societies

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