Note on the Psychopathology of Senility: Senescent Defense against Threat of Death

Abstract

Inherent in many of the physiological explanations of senility is a fatalism, i.e., the senile psychoses cannot be cured. There has been no evidence that senility, far from universal, is incurable. Less pessimistic psychogenic theories lead to plausible therapies. Senility, having symptoms in common with schizophrenia, might be treated by the same methods. Like schizophrenia, senility may be precipitated by the threat of death. That senility is a senescent defense against a personal and inevitable death is supported by the fact that the memory of the aged fails (is repressed), the most recent memories being lost first. A psychotherapeutic program for the senile aimed at the terror reduction of the death threat is recommended.