Late Adulthood - the Case of Marie

Late Adulthood: Case of Marie

Michele A. Robinson

COUN5004

Survey of Research in Human Development of Professional Counselors

149-65 254th Street

Rosedale, NY 11422

Telephone: 718. 806. 7245

Email: marobinson80@yahoo.com

Instructor: Professor Heath Willingham

Aging is something that occurs within every living being regardless of gender, ethnicity, race, religion, class or status. It is a point where we move on in life from one stage of life to another. Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory is composed of eight developmental stages of Psychosocial Crisis which span throughout the course of life. Late adulthood is the eighth phase in Erikson's developmental stages. The Psychosocial crisis during this phase is Integrity vs. Despair.

Erickson believed that as we age we are each faced with an assortment of developmental tasks to master. The best we can hope for is to reconcile with each task and arrive at a place that Erikson referred to as "Integrity." To fall short of mastering these tasks can leave us in a state of "Despair." We can all think of people who fall on either end of the "Integrity verses Despair" continuum. Some are happy about the life they have lived. Others have many struggles and regrets. Each stage presents the individual with a conflict or what he refers to as a crisis that they must successfully resolve to proceed with development. When we reach the stage of late adulthood there are many things begin to change within us and around us. We learn how to successfully deal with the challenges we face in life. We enter school, we make friends, we prepare for a career, and we establish families of our own. Finally we should get to a point in life when we have satisfaction in the decision/choices we have made rather than becoming bitter.

Just like when we were children and experience rapid growth spurts the reverse happens when we become adults and our body begins to slow down. This is what we see in the case of Marie who is in this phase of her life. As you age, your heart rate becomes slightly slower and your heart might, bones begin to shrink is size and density, and memory tends to become less efficient with age. It might take longer to learn new things or reminder familial words or names. But "too many of our elders struggle to cope with difficult life situations or mental disorders that negatively affect their ability to participate fully in life. Prejudice and rejection old aging in our society is so widespread that it has been given a name of its own: "ageism." (Nelson, 2002). The term "ageism" was coined in 1969 by Robert Butler, the first director of the National Institute on Aging, defining it as a process of systematic stereotyping and discrimination against people because they are old. Today, it is more broadly defined as any prejudice or discrimination against or in favor of an age group (Palmore, 1990).

In the case of Marie, 68 year old women in the stage of late adulthood, who has been going through a series of events that has caused her transition from middle to late adulthood difficult for her. Over the past 5 years, she dealt with the loss of her husband, retirement, moving to another location, adjusting to family issues, and mental issues. These events took place all within a short time span causing Marie to have a hard time adjusting to it.

Marie retired at 65 from a business she ran of over 20 years, two years after the death of her husband. It has been proven that women tend to out their husbands on a 4/1 ratio between the ages of 65 and 74. The consequence of widowhood is "intense emotional grief, loss of social and emotional support, and material support..."(Newman and Newman, 2010). Marie and her daughters decided she should retire from the business and move closer to them so that they could be a better support to her. Many elderly persons chose to retire at the age 65 even though some may chose to continue to work until later. When one is not forced to retire, they seem much happier with the decision especially when they have the income to maintain an adequate living standard. Some situation of how one would could e forced to retire is by a place of employment or due to a chronic illness. "Retirement allows the individual to reflect upon the choices that have been made throughout the course of life. Reviewing one's life in a positive manner allows the individual to experience satisfaction. Alternatively, a negative life review can leave the individual with feelings of regret" (Sokol, 2009).

Marie reported feelings of stress and depression. "During the normal process of aging, older persons encounter stressor that may trigger both appropriate and distorted emotional responses. Two of the most stressful unplanned life events include declines in health and loss of loved ones" (Takamura, 2001). Many elderly persons have expressed other triggers due to: fear of dying, major life events e.g. retirement, living alone, moving into a nursing or retirement home, loneliness and isolation, lack of support, decreased mobility, dependency on others, a pessimistic view of the future, and vascular changes in the brain. Many of these events Marie has been dealing with herself. Being depressed and anxious around the anniversary of the death of a loved one is not uncommon.

Although Marie moved to be closer to her daughters for them to provide support for her, she ended up providing additional support for them and their family. Toni, a wife for 10 years and a mother of a 5 year old, is able to provide emotional support to her mother. On the other hand Lisa, 50 a single mother of 4 year old twins tends to become frustrated with them and yells at the children. Depending on one's level of engagement in the grandparent role, grand parenthood may require a renewal of parenting skills