Citation

Upadhyaya M, Sher L. Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr. 2019; 41(4): 365-366.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Bronx, NY, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Associacao Brasileira de Psiquiatria)

DOI

10.1590/1516-4446-2019-0448

PMID

31365713

Abstract

It is common for older adults to recall the point in their life when their thoughts naturally shifted from exclusive concerns about the future and what lies ahead to also contemplating the past and what was. This transformation does not take place in a day, but over the course of months and years. There is little published information to pinpoint when it occurs, but empirical data would suggest it happens in the seventh decade of life.1 An individual commences the process of objectively and subjectively confronting the “beginning of the end” with mixed emotions, as they assess and take stock. What has one achieved or accomplished that is of significance? What opportunities remain in the decades ahead? How closely does one’s real life match the life imagined decades ago? What goals are still left to attain? And, perhaps, the most daunting question of all: how will it all end?

In approaching older adulthood, one may assess their satisfaction with the past, and level of confidence – emotionally, physically, financially, and socially – in what the future entails. Unfortunately, for some older adults, this is an arduous process, and the satisfaction and confidence on which they are meant to draw is insufficient, or even nonexistent. They feel ill-equipped to confront what lies ahead, and faced with the perception of a tormented demise, some older adults take deliberate measures to bring their life to a premature end ...

Language: en