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Aging is inevitable. With this knowledge of the aging process a counselor can help guide you through the many changes emotionally, physically and cognitively to help you get the most out of  your later years.

References

Broderick, P.C., Blewitt, P. (2015). The life span: Human development for helping professionals. (4th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

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Richard Ryan's self-determination theory suggests our satisfaction in life comes from fulfilling the fundamental psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p.533)

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Evelyn Duvall's family life cycle is a stage like sequence that involves traditional family development of intact marriages that spans marriage through late life (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p.500-502).

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In order to adapt and cope with increasing loss, Paul Baltes' suggests his theory of Selective Optimization with Compensation provides three key processes to be succesful.

Selection: narrowing our goals and limiting the area in which we put effort.

Optimization: finding ways to improve the achievement of our selected goals.

Compensation: when loss prevents our ability to do something - we compensate and find other ways to achieve our goals (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p.569-570).

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In general, as we age our brain function changes.   We have two underlying intellectual resources: fluid intelligence ad crystallized intelligence.

Fluid Intelligence is responsible for the processing efficiency of our cognitive system.

Crystallized Intelligence is the product of our processing.

Research has shown that while fluid intelligence shows loss through middle and late adulthood, crystallization intelligence continues to gain until around the age of 70, when signs of loss emerge (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p.489 & 559).

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As we enter late adulthood, we become more selective with our social relationships.  We tend to keep our close, deeply satisfying relationships intact and often eliminate those peripheral relationships that have less meaning.  In addition, we recognize the importance of accepting things we cannot change and find focusing on the positive to be beneficial (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p.576-577).

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As we age our systems become less effective such as:

our immune system

vision

hearing

general body changes that result in constant body stiffness or arthritis

reproductive systems change, women go through menopause (reduction in estradiol and estrogen) and men go through  andropause (reduction in testosterone.)

In order to live comfortably it is important to exercise regularly and maintain consistent medical checkups for any health issues that arise (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p.557-558).

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Paul Baltes' life span development theory suggest that we are adapting emotionally and cognitively from birth until death through gains and losses and growth,  maintenance and regulation of loss(Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p.479) .

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As we move through life and into middle and late adulthood stages, there are cognitive, emotional and physical changes in our development.

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As we move through adulthood the biology of our bodies process through gains and losses.  With age there is more loss than gain (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p. 480).

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Erik Erikson's ego identity simply stated is the full breadth of our self-knowledge. It is the foundation for our behaviors and commitments to our relationships, career and belief systems (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p. 346).  Ego identity is part of our personality and temperament. By mid to late adulthood identity there is little change (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p.485).

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Growth, Maintenance & Regulation of Loss

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Growth, Maintenance & Regulation of Loss

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During mid to late adulthood, growth occurs as we add skills, understanding, new characteristics etc. to our behaviors.

As we experience challenges due to loss, maintenance is the ability to find ways to continue at the same level.

As we continue to experience loss later in life regulation of loss is our ability to change our behavior in order to adjust and accept functioning at a lower level (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p.481-482).