Emotional Problems Disturb Communication

By and large, age itself does not bring radical emotional change. We continue throughout our lives to adjust to changing circumstances, more or less well, depending on our own abilities. Now will age in itself change our essential personalities or our attitudes toward life, other people, and ourselves.

Optimists are likely to remain optimists. Those who have difficult adjusting are likely to continue to do so, and those who have continually blamed themselves for lost opportunities and failures simply have more such uncomfortable thought as the years go by.

Nevertheless, new kinds of stresses may occur as the individual grows older, and these stresses may strain the emotional resources of even the most resilient person.

Work Role Loss

One stress may older undergo is the loss of their formal work role, in the past this loss chiefly affected men, but in the future it is bound to affect women equally. Productivity is basic to the American ethic. Working especially for pay is equated with worth in our society. A person deprived of that role, particularly someone who has no other active or productive pursuit that can continue, may fed a profound sense of loss. Also now that person has more unoccupied time for introspection, other fears may surface, of illness, of loneliness, of impending death.