Prejudices and stereotypes about old age

"Old age exists when you begin to say: I have never felt so young"

—Jules Renard

"When they tell me I'm too old to do something, I try to do it right away"

-Pablo Picasso

"Death does not come with old age, but with oblivion"

-Gabriel Garcia Marquez

What is the social imaginary of the elderly from the eyes of the adult?

As a first step, I want to reflect on the journey in time that the vision of the old man was making and how it has changed until it reaches the present time. Nowadays, you often have an image of the old negative in western societies, there is a myth of "eternal youth" that we believe can hide the passage of time. Today, where it is very fashionable, surgeries and beauty treatments, in their extreme use, are some of the ways to cover the passage of time.

Changes in the body can be considered as the scene of prejudices and the importance of the skin and being caressed as a means of communication and a way to prevent isolation.

Social factors

I consider as relevant data the increased life expectancy

that began to be detected from the second half of the 20th century and the decrease in the fertility rate. The proportion of people over the age of 60 is increasing faster than any other age group in almost all countries. As a result of this, we must notice the positive things that this period has, which is the simple fact of being alive. It is a challenge for society to value the role that older adults can play and achieve maximum improvement of their quality of life and health, as well as their participation in society.

Old age, as explained in the Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development, refers us to a psychological struggle of the individual during this vital stage. In today's society, where advertising and image culture have a great relevance, youth is a rising value and, on the contrary, the Old age is hidden and denied, to the point that many people of a certain age are obsessed with the negative feelings associated with aging. It is what is known as Gerascophobia.

A culture that rejects old age

Culture rewards youth as symbols of joy, success and fertility, while it repudiates old age, associating it with disease, asexuality and with the absence of wishes or projects. In the collective imagination they plan set phrases such as "leave him, he's old" "they are things of the age" "this is so because is old ”, not to mention verbs like" raving "or" chochear ", which are often associated with people of a certain age.

Many professionals who deal with the elderly on a day-to-day basis feel that the elderly are not listened to but rather are silenced. Just the opposite of what a person in the elderly needs: to speak and be heard, communicate with their environment and notice that they are useful and valued. Is there something from the seniors' speech that we don't want to hear? This is another of the questions we ask ourselves when addressing the issue.

Prejudices, stereotypes and misconceptions about old age

Taking as reference the gerontopsychiatry Argentine Leopoldo Salvarezza and the American psychiatrist Robert Neil Butler, I consider that the old age and their social imaginary represent:

• A discriminatory attitude and unfounded prejudice towards the old.

• The impossibility of placing oneself, in projection, as an old man.

• Not knowing old age as a reality and as a vital stage.

• Confuse old age and illness.

• Confusing old age with senile dementia.

• Fantasy expectations and unproven treatments to stop the passage of time and try to achieve "eternal youth."

• Irrational biomedicalization of the aging process based on the medical paradigm.

• Participation of health professionals themselves, without gerontological training, in the criteria of old age.

• Collective unconscious of society that is usually gerontophobic and thanatophobic.

We choose from desire

The psychoanalysis and its concept of wish it gives us the possibility to "choose" the old man we want to be. We believe that neither happiness nor joy are attributes of young people, as well as Nor is the lack of desire typical of the elderly. These are prejudices implanted for centuries and that lead the elderly to deny themselves when they feel desires, passions, emotions that supposedly "are no longer for their age."

For this reason we must be less critical of our own body and we must be more critical of social prejudices about the elderly, so that they do not leave us locked in a feeling of shame towards ourselves.