Psychology of the elderly

What can be said about the changes in the personality of an elderly person, especially an old person? What can be attributed to typical manifestations? Most often, negative, negative characteristics are named, from which such a psychological “portrait” of an old person could turn out. Decreased self-esteem, self-doubt, dissatisfaction with oneself; fear of loneliness, helplessness, impoverishment, death; gloom, irritability, pessimism; a decrease in interest in the new — hence the grumbling, grouchiness; locking interests on oneself — selfishness, self-centeredness, increased attention to one’s body; uncertainty about the future — all this makes old people petty, stingy, overcautious, pedantic, conservative, lacking initiative, etc. Fortunately, this portrait is neither accurate nor fair.

K.I. Chukovsky wrote in his diary: «… I never knew that it was so joyful to be an old man, that not a day — my thoughts are kinder and brighter.»

Researcher of personality changes in old age N.F. Shakhmatov, characterizing the symptoms of mental decline and mental illness, disorders, believes that “the idea of ​​mental aging cannot be complete and complete without taking into account favorable cases that better than any other options characterize aging inherent only in humans. These options, whether labeled as lucky, successful, favorable, and finally happy, reflect their advantageous position in comparison with other forms of mental aging. Shakhmatov N.F. Mental aging: happy and painful.- M., 1996. P.61

Old age is different, and a lot depends on the person here. What a person is — such is his old age. What are we like in old age?

First, all the same — about the sad. The body ages, that’s a fact. Smart and prudent people take care of their health at any age, some older people will still give odds to some young people, but the fact remains: the body ages, the skin changes, after stress the body recovers longer, diseases accumulate.

In addition, IF YOU DO NOT WATCH YOURSELF, psychological changes also occur with age.

In the intellectual — there are difficulties in acquiring new knowledge and ideas, in adapting to unforeseen circumstances. A wide variety of circumstances can turn out to be difficult: those that were relatively easy to overcome in youth (moving to a new apartment, illness of one’s own or someone close to you), all the more so before (the death of one of the spouses, limited movement caused by paralysis; complete or partial loss of vision).

In the emotional sphere — an uncontrolled increase in affective reactions (strong nervous excitement) with a tendency to unreasonable sadness, tearfulness. The reason for the reaction may be a movie about past times or a broken cup.

For many, previously hidden accentuations are amplified, simply — the character changes, or even deteriorates. And the most important thing is that life motivation is changing, attitude to life is changing, and again — not for the better. If we don’t take care of ourselves, we get old. But why not take care of yourself: let’s look at ourselves — what if something is already worth fixing?

Domestic scientist V.V. Boltenko singled out a number of stages of psychological aging, which do not depend on passport age. At the first stage there is a connection with the type of activity that was leading for a person before retirement. As a rule, this type of activity was directly related to the pensioner’s profession. More often these are people of intellectual labor (scientists, artists, teachers, doctors). This connection can be direct in the form of episodic participation in the performance of the previous work, or it can be indirect, through reading special literature, writing special literature, topics. If it breaks off immediately after retirement, then the person, bypassing the first stage, enters the second. In the second stage there is a narrowing of the circle of interests due to the fulfillment of professional attachments. In communication with others, conversations on everyday topics already predominate, discussion of television programs, family events, successes or failures of children and grandchildren. In groups of such people, it is already difficult to distinguish who was an engineer, who was a doctor, and who was a professor of philosophy. In the third stage personal health is paramount. Favorite topic of conversation — medicines, methods of treatment, herbs … Both in newspapers and in television programs, special attention is paid to these topics. The district doctor, his professional and personal qualities, becomes the most significant person in life. At the fourth stage the meaning of life is the preservation of life itself. The circle of contacts is narrowed to the limit: the attending physician, social worker, family members who support the personal comfort of the pensioner, neighbors of the closest distance. For decency or out of habit — rare telephone conversations with old acquaintances of the same age, mail correspondence, mainly to find out how many more are left to survive. And finally at the fifth stage there is a decrease in the needs of a purely vital nature (food, rest, sleep). Emotion and communication are almost absent.

Is all this inevitable? “Fortunately, no. The aging of the body with mental aging is not directly related.

One of the founders of Russian psychology B.G. Ananiev (Ananiev B.G. Selected psychological works.: In 2 vol. M., 1980, explained that the paradox of human life lies in the fact that for many people “dying” occurs much earlier than physical decrepitude. This condition is observed in those people who voluntarily begin to isolate themselves from society, which leads to “a narrowing of the scope of personal properties, to a deformation of the personality structure.” Compared to centenarians who retain their personality, some “beginning” pensioners at the age of 60-65 seem formed vacuums and feelings of social inferiority… From this age, a dramatic period of personality dying begins for them.And the conclusion that the scientist makes: «The sudden blocking of all the potentials of a person’s ability to work and talent with the cessation of many years of work cannot but cause deep restructuring in the structure of a person as a subject of activity and therefore personality.

True, but another, more optimistic conclusion follows from this: you can live by adding your passport age — and remain young at heart, remain alive, positive, cheerful and energetic. It is possible that every year it will be more and more difficult, but, on the other hand, you have more experience and more wisdom. The main thing is for whom it is all. Unless it’s for your own sake, that’s rarely enough motivation. If you know that your children, grandchildren, friends, and maybe your colleagues, our society need you, you have something to say and you can do some things in a way that no one else will do — you will always find in yourself strength to stay alive, vigorous and young.

The main thing is to live in such a way as to be needed!