Abstract:
Population ageing does not necessarily imply neither inevitable decreases in societies’
competitiveness, nor decreases in intergenerational solidarity, but current demographic
change contributes to an increasing societal (and also scientific) interest in possible
contributions of older generations to development and cohesion of society. The respective
question refers to both an individual and a societal perspective: to actual and future resources
and potentials of older people as well as societal preconditions which have to be fulfilled fordeveloping, expanding, and realizing potentials of older people.
The psychological consideration of old age elucidates three potentials in this phase of life: thefirst is introspection or self-reflection, i.e. an in-depth grappling of the person with him or
herself allowing for new insights and a more profound understanding of the self; the second
is openness, i.e. the susceptibility to new impressions, experiences and insights that may result
from a new view of him or herself, as well as from the surrounding social and spatial world;and finally, the third is generativity, i.e. the conviction that the individual has a place in thesuccession of generations and to assume responsibility within this succession.
The potential perspective expressed here is to expand by a vulnerability perspective thatprimarily affects the physical features but which, at the same time, can also affect the brain
functions. The organism’s vulnerability increases in significance particularly in very old age,i.e. the phase of life from the middle of the ninth decade of life.
Susceptibility to a growing number of diseases, a growing number of physical symptoms, theprobability of needing care and a notably increased risk of dementia are all seen in the ninth
and tenth decade of life. In very old age, people regularly report that they no longer feel incontrol of their own bodies; they complain about the growing number of symptoms, as wellas the big fluctuations in their physical condition, sometimes also in their cognitive ability.
It should be considered here that DNA’s genetic control ability becomes increasingly
restricted due to an accumulation of damage. One consequence is the reduced protection of
our organism against noxa and disease: Very old people cannot fight diseases and degenerative
processes as well as they could in younger years, they become bio-genetically increasinglyvulnerable.
This modus deficiens – to borrow a terminus from the Jewish-Arabic doctor, Moshe ben
Maimon, from the 14th century – demands an increasing degree of activation, stimulation andmotivation from the social, spatial and institutional environment; it requires a growing
number of participatory supportive structures and it also needs a barrier-free environment
which offers a preventative effect. Old people are particularly dependent on good medical
treatment, rehabilitation and care. With the measures mentioned, we help to compensate forthe modus deficiens, the increased vulnerability in very old age, and to better protect the elderly.
The increasing loss of biological protection and the decreasing genetic control demands
greater social and cultural protection. The elderly, with their physical vulnerability, are aspecial responsibility, a challenge for society.
Following the lifespan developmental theory, establishing ego-integrity in the context of lifereview is an indispensable task at the end of human life, if people do not succeed in copingwith this task, they are expected to suffer from despair and feeling disgusted towards theirown lives. This last psycho-social crisis is initiated by changes in older people’s situatedness
at the end of life and further reinforced by social demand.