As a result of the mentor experience, my initial understanding of aging prior to the mentor experience changed. Initially, my understanding of aging what that it was an ongoing process of growth that can be denoted through the physical deterioration of the body. The body grows old, skin wrinkles, muscles shrink, and the bones weaken. However, this is not the only consequence of aging. Aging provides a new outlook on life and builds the spirit when reflecting on a life well-lived. Often times, aging is given a negative connotation when in reality it is a beneficial and positive process that leads to emotional, mental, and social growth. Consequently, one’s perspective of aging ultimately depends on their environments as well as their mediators. …show more content…
Finkel. He says that on picture day when other kids would dress up that he did not because he did not really understand why. Even in high school, he says that he didn’t really have a personality. However, he believes as he has gotten older that his personality has become more defined, and this is something that more commonly happens as you get older. There is a separation of emotion from personality as you get older. He says as a teenager when you would get upset that would involve your whole person whereas when you are older you are able to make that distinction. As you age, it is easier to realize that only part of you in angry, not all of …show more content…
Mr. Finkel also had his right leg amputated as a result of a car accident in Alabama in the 1980s. Fortunately, this accident did not permanently affect his mobility because soon after he received a prosthetic leg and attended physical therapy for some months. However, after receiving this amputation and even until today, Mr. Finkel experiences phantom pain in his right leg. Phantom pain is a sensation characterized by experiencing pain in a limb that has been amputated. Some believe it to be a mental perception, but little is known about its definite cause. Also, Mr. Finkel lost one eye as a result of the same accident. With aging, he developed arthritis and stiff joints which limited his range of motion. This proved to be troublesome as it was hard for Mr. Finkel to continue to play piano without discomfort. Despite the ailments in health Mr. Finkel has experienced throughout aging, he continues to enjoy classical music and playing the piano. The Positive Effect of Mediators on Aging Older adults face a lot of stressors as they age. Mediators effectively shape a person’s response to stress (Dedon, 2016). My mentor cited a couple of mediators in his life. His physician was very involved in his life as a patient. He credits his physician’s involvement as what helped him not to stress over his changing body and the disabilities he face. In addition, he used music as an outlet to his pain and aging. He says that music virtually
First, the forms of aging and life course structures depend on the nature of the society in which individuals participate. Second, while social interaction is seen as having the greatest formative influence in the early part of life, such interaction retains crucial importance throughout the life course. Third, that social forces exert regular influences on individuals of all ages at any given point in time” (Theories of Aging. (n.d.)). The movie portrays aging being more about living the rest of life rather than dyeing in them.
For my final paper topic, I have chosen to discuss phantom limb pain. I was inspired to write about phantom limb pain after a recent visit to the Veterans Affairs hospital. I will be explaining the physiological aspects, including involvements of nerves, spinal cord, and the brain, as well as the psychological aspects, including grief, stress, depression and anxiety of phantom limb pain. According to Goldstein (2010), phantom limb pain is a phenomenon that a person whose limb has been amputated continues to experience the sensation of the limb (p.344). Along with the sensation of the amputated limb, patients can also experience pain, tingling, numbness, and temperature changes. People who were born without a limb can also experience phantom
Aging is a natural process that cannot be slowed down, reversed or stopped. Therefore, many people are undergoing the process and have learned various ways of coping with the fact that they are aging as it has its associated challenges and difficulties. For instance, some people lose strength as well as their sight as they age, which makes them needy as well as it negatively influences their level of enthusiasm. In order to understand fully what older adults experience with regards to the natural process of aging, it is more imperative to hear it from a person who is well undergoing the process. This is because they can share first-hand experiences that will enable a better and comprehensive understanding of what older adults' experience, and how they feel about the whole idea of aging. Therefore, this paper aims at describing the story of an older adult's experience and thoughts on aging based on an interview with the older person. Some of the areas of discussion necessary for developing the story include lifestyle changes as well as their resulting health changes, changes in mental state, financial security, family life, thoughts on available support systems such as Medicare and social security as well as thoughts on being older. In a bid to protect and ensure the interviewee's privacy I will use a fictitious name Lorry, to refer to the respondent.
Phantom limb syndrome is an extraordinary condition that is caused by amputating a limb or being born without a limb (Flor, 2002); This condition affects approximately 80% to 90% of patients who have had a limb amputated (Flor, 2002). The first documented case of phantom limb syndrome was in the mid 16th century (Nikolajsen & Jensen, 2001). The description was given by a French military surgeon by the name of Ambroise Paré (1510–1590) when he noticed that some of his injured patients would express that they were experiencing extreme pain in their missing limb (Nikolajsen & Jensen, 2001). He studied and wrote down the characterizations of this post-amputation state and attempted to create different models to explain how the phantom pain was
Aging is a process that brings up many elements to question from the one that is aging, and from society. As a matter of fact, we all will one day face this process; therefore, this article is one of many that points out the process of aging that may be caused by one’s cultures. Also, many discrepancies have been discussed on why the aging and psychopathology is associated with each other during the aging process. However, this article points out that many aging processes are different and is based on the culture of that individual. It also gives different perspectives on the aging process from different cultures. One in particular was from Britain, and it stated that they
Successful aging can be defined in many different ways. Throughout the semester we have talked about many different aspects of aging that help define the success within the process. We have discussed the neurosciences of aging, the physical changes associated with aging, the longevity and intelligence of individuals in relation to their life and abilities while aging, how relationships and work can change as one ages, and how aging affects ones personality. After reading Childhood Misfortune as a Threat to Successful Aging: Avoiding Disease and Successful Aging and Well-Being: Self-Rated Compared With Rowe and Kahn, I have a better understanding of the objective and subjective view of aging in relation to childhood factors.
My philosophy on academic advising is to be a coach and mentor to my students. My main goal of academic advising in coaching and mentoring is to develop my students’ critical thinking skills and problem-solving competences.
Successful aging is a dynamic process in accordance to the outcome in personal development and growth. The individual also shows the ability to learn from past experiences to cope with present circumstances while maintaining a realistic sense of self. Successful aging is viewed as a psychosocial aspect, biomedical or a combination of the two. Biomedical theory focuses on absence of chronic diseases and risk factors, health, level of physical functioning, performance, mobility, cognitive functioning and level of independency. Psychosocial model emphasizes life satisfaction, sense of self, social participation and functioning, relationships, level of ability in social role functioning, participation in society, outlook of life, coping and adaptive strategies, etc. Other views include learning new things, life expectancy, accomplishments, financial security, neighborhood, physical appearance, productivity, sense of humor, sense of purpose, and spirituality.
The authors Richard Robins and Kali Trzesniewski wrote an article about how self-esteem changes across a persons’ life time. They speculated that in early childhood self-esteem is relatively high then begins to decline. In adolescents’ self-esteem continues to decline, until adulthood when self-esteem gradually begins to increase until around the age of sixty. When an individual hits old age self-esteem begins to decline again. The authors speculate that decline in old age is similar to the decline of self-esteem for adolescents-the rapid changes happening in their lives. For both adolescents and old people their lives begin to change in ways that weren’t apparent to them before. For adolescents and people in
School programs that pair older student with younger peers result in positive effects for both.
Ageing presents both challenges and opportunities. Ageing is seen as a challenging period because of not only the biological changes happening but the involvement of various other factors like socio cultural, financial, emotional and other life transitions which completes the process such as retirement,
Providing a social support such as counseling from a life-span perspective must include physical context. Age is an obvious, but significant, biological concern. Erikson’s theory of development defines periods throughout our lives by eight common crises. The stages continue until death, although each stage has an optimal time (Boeree, 1997, par. 27). Familiarity with each stage’s crisis is the foundation of counseling from a life-span development perspective. Focusing on one stage’s crisis
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.
Aging is a concept that impacts our society. With advances in medicines, lifespan has been extended for a few more years. This brings the need for accommodation and proper ways for caring for the older generation. Erik .H. Erikson is a third generation psychologist and a psychoanalyst who was a
“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” (Baldwin). The idea that two groups of people, generations apart can be akin to one another is one of life’s many mystical ironies. Human life is often characterized by cycles and stages, beginning with birth and ending at death. The exact reason why people age is still an incomprehensive phenomenon. As people age, they often take on the characteristics of a dependent child. Their ability to care for themselves dramatically diminishes to the point that they resemble the helpless babies they once were.