title: The aging process as forward movement and the case for detours and backward steps.
abstract: This article focuses on Pruyser's (Pastor Psychol 24:102-118, 1975) view presented in his article titled "Aging: Downward, Upward, or Forword?" that the later stages of aging are not a downward movement from a higher peak but the continuation of a forward movement, and that manifestations of gains as well as losses in older adulthood support this view. While expressing agreement with this view I draw on Sigmund Freud's discussion of the death instinct in Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Freud 1920/1959) to suggest that the later stages of the aging process may involve an increase in detours and backward movements. Suggesting that these detours and backward steps are potentially beneficial, I conclude that Freud provides guidelines for how we may view and evaluate the losses and gains that Pruyser identifies as characteristic of the later stages of the aging process.
authors.affiliation: Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ 08542-0803, USA. cappsdonald@aol.com
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Capps
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D005619:Freudian Theory; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D029181:Spirituality