Growing Old: a Psychological Interpretation of "About Schmidt"

Erikson's theory states, an individual goes through eight developmental stages, in each of which he must face and cope with a central psychosocial problem or crisis (Plotnik & Kouyoumdjian, 2008). The eight crises outlined by Erikson are: trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, identity versus identity confusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and ego integrity versus despair (Plotnik & Kouyoumdjian, 2008).

Every day a person experiences different emotions. The key to experiencing emotions is how one chooses to handle them and how they display themselves. In our textbook it mentions Elizabeth Kubler- Ross’ process of dying and this deals with the emotions people are faced with when it comes to dying and how they cope with them. Ross’s first stage is shock and denial and in the novel Morrie displays shock and denial when the doctor initially told him he has Lou Gehrig’s disease. “My old professor, meanwhile, was stunned by the normalcy of the day around him. Shouldn’t the world stop? Don’t they know what has happened to me?” (Albom, 8) As Morrie faces each of the five stages he finally reaches the last one which is acceptance and adjustment. He explains to Mitch the process of detaching oneself and all the emotions one will face. “If you hold back on the emotions- if you don’t allow yourself to go all the way through them- you can never get to being detached, you’re too busy being afraid…” “But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only then can you say, ‘All right, I have experienced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now I need to detach from that emotion for a moment” (Albom,

Erikson believed that people develop in psychosocial stages. He emphasized developmental change throughout the human life span. In Erikson's theory, eight stages of development result as we go through the life span. Each stage consists of a crisis that must be faced. According to Erikson, this crisis is not a catastrophe but a turning point. The more an individual resolves the crises successfully, the healthier development will be.

8. Some people may be in one stage for such a short time that it seems as if they skipped that stage. Some times the person returns to a previous stage. According to Kubler- Ross, the five stages of dying are:

A popular twentieth-century Swiss-American psychiatrist named Elisabeth Kübler-Ross believes that once an individual experiences a loss they exhibit five distinct stages of grieving. Kübler-Ross model can be broken down into five stage: they are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Kübler-Ross believes when a person experiences a death, they have these emotional responses assuring the process of healing. In an article on the Elizabeth Kübler-Ross foundation site, Professor Allan Kellehear explains, “These “stages” [may] overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether” (Kellehear). Hamlet “destructive behavior [that]

Kübler-Ross believes that normal experiences with death are different today than in past generations. In past generations it was very rare for someone not to lose a loved one early in their life. Today, new medicines allow more people to live longer, and in result, not many people might experience death of a close relative at a young age. Today, it is a lot different from the past, because many people do not have experience with death and know how to deal with it.

Characters development is well represented in the film, and this was reached with a help of language and clothes used by actors. For example, as each character wears clothes that suit his life. The director also differentiates the lives of people by using various screenshots and camera rolls, and this is to make a viewer understand the different themes presented (Beach 124). It can be stated that any young person should watch the movie, because the storyline may reflect what the individual may be going through. The movie is an implementation of encouragement for an individual. There are many young people who try to commit suicide, who may not see the essence of living, just like Harold. Adults very often have a problem with judging young generation, and they may try to interfere with their life decisions. Harold faced this problem when every person close to him wanted to advise on how he should live his life, and this shows the major problem with community members. The film supports the idea that people should not complicate their lives, because they are themselves creators of their own

In Erik Erikson’s development stages he assumes that people will encounter a crisis at every stage, which involves a person’s psychological needs conflicting with society needs. In stage eight Erikson focuses on people who are 65 years of age and older, who may be struggling with a conflict over Ego Integrity vs. Despair. Jane was starting to feel dissatisfied with her life and what she had accomplished. What Jane was feeling was typical according to Erikson’s development stages. Some people may feel accomplish about the life they have lived, while others at this stage may be saddened by the things they have not accomplished. Erikson stated that the crisis people went through at each stage needs to be resolved by the ego at the same stage, otherwise development may not proceed correctly (Davis & Clifton, 95). Jane’s depression about her life needed to be resolved before she could move on. People encouraged Jane to look at life as though she was starting a new chapter.

• Identify how Kubler-Ross’ five stages of death and dying play a critical role in helping this couple, identifying and explaining what stage each person is in.

The final psychological conflict in Erikson’s theory, ego integrity versus despair, involves coming to terms with one’s life. Adults who arrive at a sense of integrity

The Kübler- Ross model, or the five stages of grief, postulates, a series of emotions experienced by terminally ill patients prior to death, wherein the five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The model was first introduced by Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book On Death and Dying,

Kübler-Ross came up with idea that people pass through different stages after they find out that they are dying, but this idea has been debunked. The stages include Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. According to Kübler-Ross everyone who is the progress of dying goes through these stages, but according to some research not all people go through these stages or if they do they go through them in reverse (Lilienfeld, Lynn, Ruscio, & Beyerstein, 2009). Kübler-Ross’s stages are so popular because they give people a sense of predictability over their deaths (Lilienfeld, Lynn, Ruscio, & Beyerstein, 2009).

Erikson presented a model of human development, which turned to a classical psychological theory.” (pg.393) Erikson believed that we go though a series of “crises” that help shape us and become healthier individuals that are able to resolve our issues. Santrock summaries, that Erikson explained his theory with eight stages of development . (Pg. 18) With each stage we are faced with a different obstacles that shape us as to move on to the next stage until we reach old age.

Erikson’s theory of growth and development had eight very distinct stages. His theory assumes that a life crisis occurs during each stage of development. In Erikson’s case the crises are psychosocial in nature because they include the psychological needs of a person that conflict with societal needs. In the theory it states that successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and certain strengths that help one’s ego resolve sticky situations throughout life. Failure to complete any of the stages can result in an unhealthy sense of self, but they can still be resolved later on in life.

People begin to change the priorities of certain aspects in their lives as they age. In late adulthood, people are keeping family and friendships closer than at other times in their lives. Friendships have a great impact in late adulthood mental health (Berk, 2010, p.473). One of the theories that focus in late adulthood is Erikson’s theory of development. It is a theory based on how people develop their identity in a series of stages from infancy to adulthood. The last stage in Erikson’s theory is called ego integrity versus despair. In this final stage, people look back on their past accomplishments in their lives to either accept their satisfaction in the past life or feel regret and despair on the goals they could have accomplished. The ones that succeed in this stage of life are satisfied with their accomplishments and they will feel that they’ve lived a well life. In this stage of life, people will go through different emotions ranging from peacefulness to loneliness. They will have to decide whether or not to rise above the conflicts that come with negative emotions.