Individuation and varieties of well-being experience among older women

This article expands an original model of ecological well-being, incorporating selected themes of Jungian individuation to categorize qualitative well-being experiences of older women. Both individuation and well-being are characterized in terms of pivotal, arresting, and diverse experiences reflecting individuality and wholeness. Examples of individuated well-being include dreaming, self-image expansion, artistic creation and beauty making, and final synthesis. Vignettes are extracted from cases drawn from the investigator's fieldwork with older women.