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Counselor must remain flexible when working with an aging client

Counselor may be younger than the client and should be prepared to spend more time building rapport due to the clients resistance

Group therapy is very effective when working with this population as the client may view peers as better able to understand his realities as opposed to the  younger counselor

Physical environment may need to be altered due to clients inability to sit for extended periods, vision or hearing impairments

Counselors should encourage healthy habits and facilitate the development of self-efficacy by challenging older patients without overwhelming them

Counselors must remember that there is great variation in how individuals grieve and process death and dying

Counselors can use well-honed communication skills to the advantage of the patient at the end of life, helping them understand end-of-life treatment options and helping ensure that the individual has a sense of a "good death"

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The unknown territory of death is unavoidable in old age

A "good death" is related to individuals control over decision-making in regards to treatment and care

Stage-like theories have been proposed to explain the process of death and grief, although they do not reflect all possible ways of managing the dying process

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Physical

Noticeable losses in functioning of biological systems

Maintaining physical and mental health is more challenging

Sensory deficits (visual and auditory)

Increased pain, stiffness, and swelling of joints

Cognitive

Atrophy of fontal lobes

Decline in executive functions

Possible development of syndromes that affect brain function (ie. dementia)

Stereotypes and Age Discrimination

A set of widely held beliefs about older people that can lead to, "uniform treatment of older people regardless of their own individual characteritics" (Broderick et. al., 2015, p. 567)

Reactions and expectations that are triggered by stereotypes appear to interfere with social interactions

One's sense of well-being is diminished when faced with age discrimination

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Everyone experiences stress in life which can have negative affects on health especially later in life, the counselor may be tasked with helping an individual to best manage these inevitable stressful circumstances.

Cultivating healthy mental habits is important to manage stress reactions that may compromise a clients health.

There are many paths to well-being including, "the development of mastery and optimism, teaching of effective problem solving and decision making, encouragement of social competence, support for health-promoting behaviors...and advocacy for improved environmental circumstances." (Broderick et. al, 2015, p. 550)

Mindfulness approach - includes learning to transform stressful situations in a skillful way instead of attempting to avoid or eliminate them and is linked with decreases in depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and sleep disturbance

Forgiveness - promotes healing through examination of a stressful or traumatic event, readjustment of views, possible promotion of empathy and, finally, integration of the event into one's life story

Self-compassion - extending care and empathy to oneself and others, involves deliberate cultivation of elements that make life worthwhile

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Stress - has a clear impact on a person's mental and physical health and takes on many different forms

Life events - traumatic events with a clear onset

Daily Hassles - chronic problematic situations

Resilience - "presence of healthy coping and adaptation in spite of challenges and risks" (Broderick et. al., 2015, p. 539)

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Worldly Goods - rising income and material gain increase happiness only when other conditions are met (ie. close relationships, positive outlook)
Personality - some personality traits such as extroversion and neuroticism are strongly correlated with subjective measures of well-being
Relationships - quality and quantity of social relationships is directly related to well-being and is consistent across cultures
Work, Achievement, Generativity - sense that one's skills and efforts are positively contributing to the world is linked to well-being
Universal Needs and Values - living a life that meets our fundamental and universal needs is extremely important for promotion of well-being
Meaning, Religion and Spirituality - resolves one's need for feeling as though life has a purpose, the need to feel a sense of control and helps justify one's actions
Culture - cultural differences in what is viewed as most valuable affect how well-being should be assessed

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Impact on Counseling: Generativity, Job Loss and "Off-Time"

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Impact on Counseling: Generativity, Job Loss and "Off-Time"

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Generativity

Counselors frequently work with adults struggling to find effective ways of resolving "work-life conflict"

Counselors can also be a support for those in the "sandwich generation", helping clients face the challenges of parenting and elder care - stressors that can put the client at risk for physical and mental health problems

Job Loss

Job loss is a nonnormative event that may alter one 's life course and is strongly correlated with mental and physical health problems.

Counselors must account for psychological consequences such as increased stress, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness, and possible physical problems that may result.

Off-Time

The feeling that one has not accomplished normative achievements "on-time"

Counselors must be aware of this possible source of stress and help to find more flexible views of generativity and accomplishment.

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Impact on Counseling: Addressing Problematic Relationships and Divorce

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Impact on Counseling: Addressing Problematic Relationships and Divorce

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Knowledge of relevant research can provide the counselor with a, "framework for understanding the life of a marriage, the behaviors that lead to successful outcome, and the behaviors that may foreshadow divorce" (Broderick et. al, 2015, p. 506)

Counselor may need to identify sources of stress and if they are coming from nonnormative or normative causes.

Stress and disagreement are inevitable parts of long-term relationships. The most successful therapies blend conflict management skills with positive relationship enhancement.

Counselor may help improve communication and problem-solving skills, introduce cognitive techniques to change negative thoughts, or teach methods for more effective management of emotions.

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Being aware of the relative proportions of gain vs. loss in a clients life, "may provide professionals with a frame for understanding presenting problems" (Broderick et. al., 2015, p. 482)

Awareness of adult life-stage theories may help the counselor form a better understanding of the client

A clearer understanding of how development is negatively affected by factors such as low SES and minority status will, "increase our repertoire of effective prevention strategies" (Broderick et. al. 2015, p. 496)

Knowledge of cohort and nonnormative events a client has experienced is essential for a complete understanding of the individual.

Aging is not always easy but it is inevitable. A counselor can help the aging client to accept this fact and view the changes that come with age in a more positive light

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Generativity: Parenting, Work and Community

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Generativity: Parenting, Work and Community

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Parenting

For many people, raising children is a major part of adulthood and may have a major impact on marital relationships.

Each stage of the child's life presents new and transformative challenges for the parent.

Feelings of generativity change as both parents and children age

Children may find themselves as caretakers to elderly parents upon reaching adulthood

Work and Community

In middle adulthood, one may have the sense of being an expert in one's field of work

Time invested in work must be balance with time spent with family and friends

A sense of generativity is dependent on  how creative and productive an individual feels. A feeling of generative accomplishment is directly related to self-knowledge and identity development.

Generativity, "seems to be foreshadowed in the personality characteristics that emerge in adolescence and young adulthood." (Broderick et. al, 2015, p.516

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Marriage - the traditional structure in which intimate adult relationships exist.
Not the only possible path, but the majority of individuals will be married or part of a committed relationship for at least some period of time.
The Family Life Cycle

traditional family development in intact marriages presented in stagelike sequence

may not be the best fit for all people, especially with a broad variety of non-traditional style families that exist today

can be used to better understand many kinds of intimate adult relationships, even if they differ from the norm

Stages: married without children, childbearing families, families with preschool children, families with schoolchildren, families with teenagers, families as launching center, middle aged parents, aging family members

Transitions and challenges within these stages:

a committed couple must synthesize the couples original family systems

when/if the couple has children, caretaking responsibilities must be incorporated into marital system

once children are in the adolescent period, the family must adapt to increasing demands for independence

next a couple must transition to their children leaving home, renegotiate the marriage

adult children must balance attachments with parents and others

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Developmental Tasks in Mid and Late Adulthood: Intimacy and Generativity

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Developmental Tasks in Mid and Late Adulthood: Intimacy and Generativity

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Nonnormative events - unexpected events experienced by an individual which influence that individuals development, much like historical events affect a cohort.

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Cohort effects - historical events that affect an entire cohort or generation. Events such as war, depression and technological shifts provide a context for development and influence it directly.
Social gradient - step-wise top-to-bottom phenomenon of social organization in which, "advantage or disadvantage in one phase of the life course is likely to have been preceded by, and to be succeeded by, similar advantage or disadvantage in the other phases of life" (Broderick et. al., 2015, p. 494)

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Physical - most sensory systems decline in sensitivity or acuity, gradual reduction of reproductive ability, wrinkling and sagging of skin, increase in body fat, increase in pain sensitivity.
Cognitive - some decline in fluid intelligence (executive functions) - including processing speed, working memory, self-regulation and cognitive flexibility. Crystallized intelligence does not usually decrease and for some can continue to increase into old age. This type of intelligence is the compilation of skills and information an individual has acquired across her life span.
Life-Task - change in the use of cognitive skills as the individual faces new problems related to age and role in life. Involve structural changes in self-concept and self-expression.

Generativity - most important in mid adulthood, involves producing and building for the next generation

Ego integrity - most important in late adulthood, involves developing the sense that she has lived a life with order, meaning and dignity

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Successful Development in Middle and Late Adulthood

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Successful Development in Middle and Late Adulthood

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The shift in development from higher gains to higher losses in middle adulthood also shifts the balance among the adaptive functions most necessary for successful coping. More of the individual's energy must be spent managing loss (maintenance and regulation).

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Growth - addition of new characteristics, knowledge and skills
Maintenance (resilience) - finding strategies for continued functioning despite challenges or loss
Regulation of loss - involves adjusting our expectations in order to accept a lower level of functioning

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From this perspective, development is characterized by gains and losses at every age, across the life span.

Gains are more obvious in the early stages and losses are more obvious in the later stages.

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A multi-faceted approach to viewing development.

Theories that take this approach assume that change and development continues from birth until death.

Provides an organizational framework for all developmental processes across the life span, helps to reflect the continuity of change.