Erikson's Psychosocial Theory Analysis

For our group’s final term paper, I’ve been working on the part that requires the application of Erikson’s psychosocial theory and Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model to better understand and analyze the issue of dementia on older adults. From what I have gone through researching for my parts, I found the discourse of dementia has been dominated by a “medicalized” notion of dementia. Such “medicalized” notion has presented us and the general public a gloomy view of ageing: a horrible disease that only associated with irreversible deterioration of intellectual functioning, and that “nothing can be done” to it. For me, I had been fortunate not to have any personal experiences with dementia as no one in my family had this disease, but before

According to Rowe and Kahn, the current model of “successful aging” means low risk of disease, high mental and physical functions, and active engagement. However, this is not quite realistic as aging is hardly without any deterioration of physical performance and cognitive function. Aging is inevitable, and for dementia patients, decline and deficits are also inevitable. However, from using the Erikson’s “ego integrity versus despair”, my reflection is that despair may not be the inevitable outcome for older adults with dementia. Human development theories portray “growth” as a lifelong, natural and universal process. I pretty much agree with what Jung (1970) suggests that “a human being would certainly not grow to be seventy or eighty years old if this longevity had no meaning for the species. The afternoon of human life must also have a significance of its own and cannot be merely a pitfall to life’s morning”. Wisdom is what we, the human species, can gain in older adulthood according to Erikson. While wisdom is a process of cognitive and dementia is the decline of cognitive, it seems that despair is only natural to be. However, from these many reference books I’ve read for this