
Clinical Psychologist
Clinical Psychologist
Donald Schultz, PhD
Donald Schultz, PhD
Psychotherapy and Successful Aging
Psychotherapy and Successful Aging
We are experiencing the unprecedented mass aging of society. Today millions of Americans are experiencing a longer life than anyone who existed in earlier centuries ever imagined. In fact, the percentage of Americans aged 65 and older has more than tripled in the last 100 years. Four thousand five hundred years ago, in the Bronze Age, human life expectancy was 22 years of age. Today, life expectancy has exploded into the stratosphere – having reached 78! Therefore, the emphasis now has begun to shift from that of medically prolonging life to ensuring that an extended life is worth living. How you prepare for the later years may well determine the conclusion and quite possibly the meaning of your life. Your psychotherapy experience may serve as a roadmap of how to live and age successfully. With 17% of the US population over 65 in 2010, going to 20% in 2030, it is also where 100% are ultimately heading. Senior citizenhood has become a life era – a time of wisdom, resiliency and maturity. The baby boomers will reach 65 in 2011. Where they have been is where American society’s focus has been placed; now that focus becomes the aging years. A boomer reaches 50 years old every 8 seconds. This group (are you part of it?) has been given more years in which to make new plans regarding careers, friends, romantic relationships, interests, leisure, community service and education. Your psychotherapy presents an unprecedented opportunity – a chance to produce a personalized roadmap to follow for the rest of your life. Let us work together on that goal!