Throughout my years working in a hospital setting, I had the honor to work with many elder adults from diverse backgrounds. These contacts have been meaningful to me, and greatly impacted my clinical work. They taught me about grief and loss, wisdom and joy—personally and clinically.
Middle-age and older adulthood is often a great time of change. Identity often shifts as people move into a different relationship with their work and experiences of mortality.
Changes in the body and mind can often feel frustrating, shameful or frightening as you age.
In middle age, you may experience the challenges of caring for multiple generations while focusing on your career or the loss of your old “younger” self.
Older adults may be grieving the loss of a spouse or friends or feel more isolated and depressed. You may be more dependent on children, family members or friends; this can be a difficult transition if you have been independent, previously. Simultaneously, the reward of this time can be what Erik Erikson called the “wisdom” that comes out of the “integrity” of late adulthood. It can provide a space to review your life and to find creativity and pleasure in the wisdom of your elder years.
Therapy can be a place to grieve losses, manage stress as well as be a vehicle for making meaning during these different stages.