Despite over one hundred years of clinical research within the field of
psychoanalysis, little has been said in relation to the body, medical
illness, and aging. In fact, there is often the idea that "real" medical
problems are somehow beyond the scope of psychoanalytic treatment. Given
that the population is living longer, there is a need for publications
that address both the impact of aging as well as illness, as persons who
live longer lives are more prone to develop medical problems.
Psychodynamic Perspectives on Aging and Illness focuses on aging and
illness from a contemporary psychodynamic perspective. The text explores
the unaddressed areas of psychodynamic theory and technique in
addressing bodily issues in those who are both older and experiencing
the associated effects of aging, including medical illness. Topics
include normative and non-normative narcissism in response to the
reduction in bodily functioning, the impact of paranoid states on the
illness and aging process, and the conceptualization of illness as an
adult on-set trauma in medical patients. The Author also provides
suggestions for how clinicians can work with an increasing aging
population, who will ultimately experience more medical illness in their
patients than previous generations of therapists and psychoanalysts.
This book will enhance the psychological literature by providing an
increased knowledge of physiology and illness as well as a framework in
which patients, who are beset with a particular genetic configuration
leaving them vulnerable to illness, are not blamed for their illnesses.
Although analytic clinicians may not be able to "cure" medical illness,
this book will help clinicians to better understand the sense of being
out-of-control that is felt by their medical patients and their
therapists on a regular basis. This insight will hopefully lead
clinicians and their patients to a heightened sense of empowerment
rather than disembodiment in the face of illness.
