If psychology as a science really took off at the beginning of the 20th century, under the successive impulses of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, it took time to become more democratic. An elite fad, a pastime of bourgeois children who have too much free time to feel sorry for themselves, or even a distraction for an idle housewife… This is a bit of the image from which psychology suffers. And if it is true that it is largely feminine, for example, it is precisely there rather the symptom of a social evil, as we know that men repress their feelings, with disastrous consequences for their well-being - the famous "toxic masculinity". In short, rather than seeing mental health as a feminine activity, it would be more logical to call for a more feminine world!
What is certain is that approximately one in four people will suffer from mental disorders during their lifetime. And that even today, while the younger ones have gradually normalized it — even to many it seems insane that one does not go to mental health professionals as one goes to the general practitioner — it Unfortunately, therefore, there is still a real taboo around mental health, as if mental illness should betray a weakness of the soul. A lot of seniors in particular don't seem to take it seriously. The watchword for them seems to be:do not flinch. From there to speak of a phenomenon of "toxic old age"? Why not!
Thus, with the pandemic, many of our elders tend to minimize the mental damage suffered by the youngest, on typical refrains:"all we ask of you is to stay at home for a few months", or even " after all, we have known war", and so on. And it is certain that the oldest generations have known undoubtedly traumatic historical periods, between the Second World War for the oldest, the war in Algeria and the paranoia of the Cold War for their children. Nevertheless, it is not a question of leading a competition to tears - as if the suffering of some invalidated that of others! On the contrary, it is often a sign of trauma:the tendency to internalize it and to refuse to express one's emotions, as if these represented an admission of weakness.
However, there is nothing healthy about this:evidenced by the high suicide rates both among men and among the elderly, two categories of the population well known for not expressing their feelings. So, mass therapy as a miracle solution? Maybe not, but this one has the merit of being an option to consider. Because it's never too late to start therapy. The most important thing is still to have the trigger yourself:it is often said that you cannot force someone to seek treatment, and this is just as true of psychotherapy.
We know that the elderly are just as susceptible to depression as anyone else. Worse still, these feelings are trivialized, underestimated and poorly detected, both by relatives and by the medical profession. Comorbidities like dementia tend to come to the fore and let depression bloom — or rather rot — in its corner. However, the physical disorders due to age, the loss of spouses or loved ones and the isolation that accompany it, the loss of autonomy, and so many others, are all factors specific to participating in the development or worsen a depressive disorder. And that's without counting on all the hormonal or neurological disorders that accompany aging or the consumption of certain medications.
Many older people seem to become more aggressive with age. We have all known an embittered old man, who seems to redirect his frustration on those around him. This hides precisely a psychological and/or physical suffering. Age is marked by losses:that of loved ones, of autonomy and sometimes of housing, of work… there is indeed enough to suffer from it mentally. Doing psychotherapy, and the work on oneself that it requires as well as the perspective it allows to take on one's life and one's journey, also make it possible to avoid reaching this point. It is very sad to end his life by being the embittered of the village.
On this subject, it is certain that even for a relatively healthy person, psychotherapy makes it possible to better understand oneself. If the quest for identity is universal and is found in patients of all ages, it is undeniable that the proximity of death makes it more acute in the oldest. When you approach the twilight of your life, it can be soothing to make sense of everything you have experienced, to bring a form of narration to the milestones of your journey. For some, it is an unconscious desire that they have never been able to satisfy, caught up in life and almost taken by surprise by old age, finding themselves retired with plenty of time to think and an ultimatum whose date remains unknown to them. . Mourning and the proximity of one's own death are two aspects of death that inevitably mark seniors much more strongly, who can therefore feel a strong need to bring internal coherence to their lives. And even a person who has been softened by age and who does not show signs of depression can hardly say that he does not experience any anxiety when these deadlines approach.
We cannot blame the elderly for being skeptical of the relevance of psychoanalysis for them. Freud himself considered the practice sterile after the age of fifty. According to the father of psychoanalysis, the brain did not have enough plasticity from then on. However, psychiatrists are formal:suffering has no age, and the psychiatry of the elderly subject is a question in its own right. One could even say of the profession that it has… killed the father.
Good news for our elders. Because there is also perhaps a tendency to objectify the elderly, among relatives as well as within the medical profession, especially since they are physically and mentally diminished on the one hand, and institutionalized by other. Yet they remain whole persons, with their wants, needs and anxieties, and deserve access to mental health just as fully as anyone else. While it is true that they are sometimes the first to be reluctant to do so, it is ultimately up to each of us to show them that it is normal and even healthy to allow ourselves to be treated normally — that it is as absurd to wallow in one's depression as to walk around with a gaping wound. It is a common and societal responsibility that we have towards our seniors to ensure that their end of life is as healthy as possible, both mentally and physically. And it is therefore also up to loved ones to raise awareness among their elders — just as they may have been lucky enough to be — about mental health and to break the taboo that surrounds it:the disease exists but does not doesn't have to be a shame, nor to be swept under the rug as a result.
A step in this direction is the development of the profession of psychologist for the elderly. These can be deployed in nursing homes with residents, or go directly to the homes of elderly patients, in order to facilitate their care. This second case, set to develop in view of demographic aging in our regions, allows the elderly, often reluctant as mentioned above or pushed by their relatives, to benefit from a more reassuring environment. At home, they are safe and have a certain "authority" over their therapist (choice of room, presence or absence of a loved one, possibility of ending the session). This can make therapy more effective and seal progress. This therapy can also prove to be essential to precisely guarantee the patient's home care. Because on the one hand, physical and mental health are intimately linked, and on the other hand, a person who is too mentally damaged is simply no longer autonomous and able to live alone. In short, if there is still a long way to go, know that in psychotherapy, there is no age to start, nor for it to bear fruit.
