King Lear and some anxieties of old age.
The experience of ageing and the resulting emotional difficulties of elderly patients have only recently begun to be understood from a psychodynamic perspective. This paper draws on two sources, literary (Shakespeare's King Lear) and clinical (consultations with elderly patients in primary care) to highlight a fundamental anxiety of old age: the dread of being abandoned to a state of utter helplessness. This state is felt to be caused by the catastrophes of old age, such as stroke and dementia. The defence against this anxiety is often a narcissistic tyranny.
Hess
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Friern Hospital, London, UK.
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003858:Dependency, Psychological; D004324:Drama; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008091:Literature; D008093:Literature, Modern; D008297:Male; D009289:Narcissism