Elderly Life Review Interview with Mrs M B

M. B The participant I choose for the interview is not well personally acquainted with me. I was introduced to her by her grandson who is a great friend of mine. I had the privilege of interviewing M. B on a weekend afternoon. B was excited that her life story and thoughts on life were the focus of the interview. M. B is an 84year old Caucasian lady living in Grand Junction, Colorado. She is a widower. She lives in a modern farmhouse build in her extended farm estate. M. B graduated from the University of Illinois at Springfield with a bachelor’s degree in computer and information sciences. She was in practice for 30 years before she decide to retire into farming for the rest of her life.

M. B feels she has achieved all she could in her life. She says since at a young age she always felt responsible for her family. Her family has always been there for her at all times. To be where she is today, she said it wasn’t an easy task. She even joked of thinking she would lose her drive towards life to quit working and venturing into farming. She still up to today makes sure that her grandchildren are getting all they deserve, from education and other basics. The process can also be used to carry out depressive diagnoses that range from common life adjustment disorders in elderly life in response to events such as loss of a companion, moving, or other life threatening depressions (McDougall, Blixen & Suen, 1997).

After life review sessions, the participants seem to get into acceptance of their condition in life and a significant decrease in depression. Life reviews aim at estimating the emotional and spiritual needs of the elderly and provide support as required (Lady & Ming, 2012). The sessions can be used to draw the best therapy for the participant. Those who have had taken the reviews show an increase in satisfaction of daily life and psychological well-being (McDougall, Blixen & Suen, 1997). However, the life review and ordinary remembering differ in many ways. Life review is a critical analysis of the reviewer’s life history. It tends to have a more formal approach. A life review may more likely focus on the positive events and accomplishments for the purpose of encouraging the participant or as record to be passed down to future generations for legacy purposes.

The goal of life review is to achieve ego integrity. Despair” Ego integrity vs. despair is the 8th and final stage of Erik Erickson’s theory of stages of psychosocial development. Erickson (1982, qtd) theory suggests that the stage begins at the age of 65 years and ends at death (Cherry, 2018, McLeod, 2008). The stage is important in life review activities. According to Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development, people face crisis in all stages of development that mark turning points in that individual’s life. At her age of 84 years, she looks lively and still looks at life positively. She dreams of acquiring more knowledge and assisting the community for more years. Mrs. M. B view the times she failed to achieve a certain goal in life as strengthening factor that made her the lady she has become.