Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 20, 2026
07:40
Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
Growing old: a psychoanalyst's point of view
1mme.quinodoz@swissonline.ch
The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis
|August 28, 2009
Summary
Psychotherapy for individuals over 70 can facilitate a meaningful reconstruction of life history, enhancing the final years. This process involves embracing life
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Psychotherapy
- Psychoanalysis
Background:
- Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy can be beneficial for individuals over the age of 70.
- Late-life therapy offers a unique opportunity for personal growth and life review.
Observation:
- Clinical examples demonstrate that late-life psychotherapy enables patients to reconstruct their life histories.
- This process helps integrate past experiences, giving significance to the final years of life.
Findings:
- Therapy can help individuals move beyond the fear of death by acknowledging life's transience.
- Active aging involves integrating life phases into a coherent narrative, contrasting with passive aging.
- The concept of 'seconds of eternity' refers to profound moments that transcend chronological time.
Implications:
- Helping elderly patients identify and hold onto these 'seconds of eternity' is invaluable.
- Understanding life's chronology aids in expressing profound experiences in daily life.
- Late-life psychotherapy promotes a richer, more integrated experience of aging.
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