What you need to know about fear of older people

Why does a phobia appear?

To learn how to deal with fear, you need to understand why it appears.

1. Fear of old age is often present in women. Men begin to worry when problems with sexual function arise.
2. Almost all fears begin in childhood. A child who saw the death of an old sick person could take it hard.
3. The helplessness of the elderly can manifest itself not only in the form of physical weakness. Old age – brain disorders, memory loss. Such consequences often overtake men in old age.
4. Being left alone in old age or becoming a burden to relatives, fear of dying alone.
5. A phobia of fear of aging may appear due to the fear of death from a serious illness.

Fears and phobias of older people

Fear of death (thanatophobia)

This fear is one of the most common among older people. Awareness of one’s old age and the proximity of death provokes the emergence of apathy and reluctance to live and develop further.

Fear of loneliness (autophobia)

Most people are probably afraid of growing old alone. But for some, this fear becomes panic. Lack of communication with anyone and help from loved ones are perceived as inevitable companions of old age.

Fear of change (neophobia)

Many older people are afraid of everything new.
This fear is often the cause of conflicts between parents, grandparents and their children or grandchildren. The reluctance of older people to use products of human civilization that would make their lives much easier, to change their place of residence and even to part with old things is a significant problem for some families. Sign up for a consultation +7

Symptoms of gerascophobia

It is not easy to consider the symptoms of a phobia; many people deny it. Happiness in adulthood, according to a gerascophobe, is impossible. People can begin to suffer from such thoughts from a young age.

A person who is busy thinking about the fear of aging strives for rejuvenation: he plans to undergo plastic surgery and other anti-aging procedures. If a gerontophobe talks to an old person or notices the first signs of aging in himself, he begins to panic. Panic states include rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, increased blood pressure and sweating.

People with a phobia may develop strong aggression towards older people. They may begin to be rude to old people, refuse help, and avoid them.

Having discovered signs of aging, the patient may panic

General facts

It is natural for people to be terrified of the unknown. But when this fear of old age pervades your entire life and you cannot function normally, there is cause for concern. Many phobia sufferers experience a feeling of loss of appearance as they age. People very often fear the future, striving for independence, and as they get older, they have a need to rely on the help of others in everyday affairs.

As this fear increases, sufferers of the phobia become increasingly prone to isolation. Modern culture places emphasis on the advantage of being young and beautiful. Society glorifies youth to such an extent that aging is something that is almost considered disgusting. Therefore, it is possible that someone may develop gerontophobia due to social pressure.

Years don't matter to us, as long as the soul is young

For a person to live long and happily, he must program himself for positive emotions. This attitude will help overcome fear. Setting yourself up for a happy and long life will help prolong a person’s youth well into adulthood. A person will grow old without experiencing fear.

Recommendations from psychologists

People do not want to grow old; they perceive the aging stage as something terrible. Old people also know how to enjoy life, do things they love, find reasons to laugh, and feel great. Over time, the body wears out, this is a natural process: it is necessary to pay attention to your health, undergo comprehensive examinations, and receive timely treatment to avoid the appearance of chronic diseases.

It is necessary to change your mood, because the fear of your old age affects your well-being and health in the present.

Women are particularly sensitive to the onset of old age, fearing that they will lose their attractiveness and become uninteresting to men.

Who can keep youth

Psychotherapy will help you calmly accept the natural onset of old age. If you have an active lifestyle and do not expose yourself to stress, your nervous system will not malfunction in old age. It is worth giving up bad habits. Psychologists recommend doing what you like, devoting yourself to family, work or a hobby. An eventful life will help women and men not grow old.

Recommendations of gerontologists

Hormonal changes with age lead to weight gain; it is necessary to adhere to a diet to avoid the onset of diseases. It is recommended to dedicate once a week to cleansing the body: the cell renewal process will accelerate and the body will rejuvenate. Products that preserve youth include:

• nuts, liver;
• lean meat;
• dairy products;
• fruits and vegetables.

Nutritionists recommend avoiding coffee and giving preference to herbal teas.

Anti-aging products

Symptoms of the disorder

Most likely, there is no person who would not at least once in his life think about what awaits him in old age. And everyone approaches this issue differently, sometimes even denying the present fear of old age. Of course, everyone wants to stay young and healthy as long as possible. Today, the level of development of medicine allows you to rejuvenate your body with the help of plastic surgery and maintain your health with medications and vitamins. But all this is just a small reprieve from the inevitable.

A gerontophobe may, first of all, be characterized by an excessive passion for plastic surgery, health procedures and drugs. Exercising to the point of exhaustion, healthy fasting, non-standard methods of nutrition and treatment - all this, in general, even benefits the human body. However, such a race for youth is already the first sign of gerontophobia, if the individual cannot accept himself as aging and is not going to put up with the future prospects. Denial of the inevitable causes insoluble internal conflict and permanent intense anxiety.

Gerontophobia can be panicky in nature. Panic attacks accompanied by the following symptoms are also common:

• increased sweating;
• decreased blood pressure;
• difficulty breathing;
• constant concern;
• unclear thoughts and conversation.

With excessive fear of old age and death, a person is inclined to solitude, tries to avoid the company of older people, and reduces contacts with relatives and older friends. There are frequent cases of unrealization: an individual begins to live in a distorted reality, creating the illusion that time has no power over him. And of course, the illusions are inevitably destroyed, and the gerontophobe experiences another attack of phobia.

An example of gerontophobia from history: The well-known Countess Erzsebet Bathory was famous for her beauty in her youth. Not wanting to grow old and accept herself as ugly and helpless, she went to extreme measures: killing young girls and bathing in their blood, as well as making masks out of it, she tried to retain her youth and beauty. Analyzing this plot from a psychological point of view, we can say that the countess’s gerontophobia led her to serious mental pathology, and possibly to a personality disorder.

Of course, in modern society such behavior of a gerontophobe is unlikely. But the consequences of the disease can also be very severe. Anxiety-phobic disorder tends to progress, against the background of which more severe pathological diseases develop.

Gerontophobia is closely related to such phobic disorders as autophobia - fear of loneliness, and thanatophobia - fear of death. These diseases can be a cause or a consequence of each other, and often an individual can suffer from several of these phobias at the same time. This is why psychoanalysis is so important in the treatment of gerontophobia: before prescribing therapy, an experienced specialist must find out which phobias bother the patient, and also rule out the presence of other mental pathologies.

Fear of old age is a phobia. Gerontophobia - overcoming the fear of old age

Maria Barnikova
Gerontophobia is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by an abnormal, irrational and intense fear of older people or one's own old age. The causes of the disease are different: Reluctance to look ugly; Fear of becoming a “burden”; Fear of being left alone, not needed by anyone; Fear of change, change in social status. All this can be formed in childhood. For example, you saw how helpless an elderly person was or heard a story about

Gerontophobia is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by an abnormal, irrational and intense fear of older people or one's own old age.

The causes of the disease are different:

• Reluctance to look ugly;
• Fear of becoming a “burden”;
• Fear of being left alone, not needed by anyone;
• Fear of change, change in social status.

All this can be formed in childhood. For example, you saw how helpless an elderly person is or heard a story about how lonely some old man is. The perception of old age is influenced by public conversations, personal experiences, and watching television and films.

Manifestation of the disorder

Many people think about what awaits them in old age. Everyone’s attitude towards this period of life is different, but sometimes a person cannot even admit to himself that he has a fear of old age. People try to delay old age by artificially rejuvenating the body, sometimes even through plastic surgery. Fear is expressed in obsessive and anxious thoughts. Listen to how a man talks about old age; he is more inclined towards the positive or negative aspects of this phenomenon.

Symptoms of gerontophobia can be expressed in the form of panic attacks, which are characterized by such signs as:

• excessive sweating
• lowering blood pressure
• labored breathing
• general anxiety
• inability to think or speak clearly

With gerontophobia, people may withdraw from the rest of society in an attempt to avoid older people.

Treatment

There are several different types of treatment available for those interested in overcoming their fear of aging. These methods can be used independently, however, it is recommended to consult a specialist to prescribe the correct treatment. Don't forget that different methods affect each person differently.

1. Breathing technique. If the fear is moderate, then in a stressful situation, use calming breathing exercises.
2. Systematic desensitization involves three steps. First, you need to relax and unwind. The second step is to recognize and understand what you are afraid of. Unfortunately, not everyone manages to figure this out on their own. Then a gradual familiarization with the source of fear begins. For example, you can offer to look at a photograph of an elderly person, then look and talk to him.
3. Flood. The person becomes directly immersed in his fear until the fear subsides or disappears. To do this, the person may be taken to a place where many elderly people live to show that there is nothing to be afraid of. But often such sudden changes can lead to complications of mental illness.

In general, self-help methods are effective in reducing fear of death, but do not eliminate the causes of the disorder. A specialist with a psychological education will help you understand the true reasons, and, therefore, choose the appropriate treatment methods. With cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, people learn to change their thoughts, and the fear of old age becomes less and less. Group therapy with people who have the same phobia can also be helpful.

How to get rid of anxiety?

Breathing exercises help you quickly cope with anxiety.
First, you need to try to get rid of the phobia yourself.

The instructions look like this:

1. “Switch off” negative thinking, stop resisting bad thoughts. Allow yourself to think that bad things are inevitable and come to terms with it. The process must be detailed; the worst must not be skipped.
2. Try breathing exercises. Imagine that with each inhalation your heart becomes bolder, and with each exhalation fear disappears. After inhaling, you should hold your breath for 2-3 seconds. The exhalation should be long.
3. If there are no serious illnesses, you need to learn to use a technique based on provoking the occurrence of physiological reactions to a phobia. This approach contributes to the destruction of the integrity of the fear response. As a result, a person has the opportunity to take control of emotions.
4. Try to overcome subconscious negative attitudes. To do this, you need to portray a confident person who is not afraid of anything every day for a long time. Shoulders should be straightened, chin should be raised. The gait should be smooth and majestic. Over time, the brain will begin to respond to the body's reactions, and fear will disappear.

Causes

Why do people fear aging? Often, “normal” individuals may find it strange that such a natural process can be feared. However, fear has deeper roots.

The most common underlying factor in this disorder appears to be anxiety. By nature, a person suffering from gerontrophobia has certain health problems, which may include: hormonal imbalance, adrenal insufficiency, thyroid defects, and so on.

Hundreds of thousands of older people live alone. Fear of being unable to take care of oneself, falling, not being able to get up on one's own or seek help, etc. can be the cause of a phobia.

Aging means retirement and the death of loved ones. A person is depressed by thoughts of losing a spouse, income, or the inability to financially support oneself or loved ones. All this most likely leads to gerontophobia.

It is possible that the parents may have developed debilitating illnesses such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, AMD or other age-related degenerations. They may even have been sent to nursing homes or unable to care for themselves. Thus, for a person, approaching old age means that he becomes dependent on others, losing self-esteem and “being weak.” All these factors greatly influence the development of gerontophobia.