scholarly journals Editor's Note: Garuba, I. O. (2019). The Ageing Poet and Death Anxiety: Art as Existential Therapy in John Pepper Clark’s "Of Sleep and Old Age". English Studies at NBU, 5(2), 268-283. DOI: 10.33919/esnbu.19.2.5

2020 ◽  
pp. 4-4

For the benefit of our readers, we are publishing this Editor's Note to assert that the version published on 30 December 2019 in English Studies at NBU, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2019, is the authoritative and only version of record.

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Issa Omotosho Garuba

Death anxiety refers to the human experience of death awareness and the accompanying inescapable disquiet it provokes. It is a phenomenon in human existence which has attracted substantial studies from existential and psychological perspectives. Noting that every individual experiences this anxiety at some point in life, largely as a result of the awareness of the inevitability of death, the manner and extent to which it is experienced vary from individuals. Meanwhile, existential reflections have described ‘death acceptance’ as the healthy route to lessening this angst. It therefore presupposes that acceptance of death (i.e. knowing that one is a being-towards-death and therefore embracing and acknowledging it) is existentially therapeutic. On this note, in studying J. P. Clark’s Of Sleep and Old Age, artistic creativity is being constructed in the study as an existential therapy against death anxiety for the poetic persona. It is premised, on the one hand, on the poet’s eloquent vision of the boredom of existence and the horror of death which characterize the atmosphere of the text. On the other, the poet’s age has been considered as a factor-agent which has bestowed on him the capacity to be conscious of an imminent death, thereby accepting it via keen reflections in his art. The study adopts two theoretical models in existential studies: (1) Monika Ardelt’s ‘Wisdom’, ‘Religiosity’ and ‘Purpose in Life’ and (2) John Sommers-Flanagan and Rita Sommers-Flanagan’s model of ‘Existential Therapy’ to assess the sway and/or centrality of death anxiety to understanding the text.


Author(s):  
Lee Greenblatt-Kimron ◽  
Miri Kestler-Peleg ◽  
Ahuva Even-Zohar ◽  
Osnat Lavenda

Death anxiety and loneliness are major issues for older people. The present study aimed to broaden the understanding of factors that are linked with increased loneliness in old age by examining the association between death anxiety and loneliness, and the role of an unexplored variable among older adults, namely, parental self-efficacy. A convenience sample of 362 Israeli parents over the age of 65 was recruited through means of social media. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires, which included background characteristics, death anxiety, parental self-efficacy, and loneliness measures. The findings showed that death anxiety was positively associated with loneliness among older adults. The findings also confirmed that parental self-efficacy moderated this association in this population. We concluded that the combination of death anxiety and low parental self-efficacy identified a group of older adults that are at higher risk of developing increased loneliness levels. Mental health professionals should consider intergenerational relationships as a fundamental component of older adults’ daily lives, focusing on parental self-efficacy in old age, as this appears to be a resilience resource.


Salmand ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-171
Author(s):  
Maliheh Khalvati ◽  
◽  
Masoudeh Babakhanian ◽  
Mahboube Khalvati ◽  
Ayub Nafei ◽  
...  

Objectives: Aging is one of the most critical stages of human development that has its own characteristics and conditions. One of the most common issues in old age is the mental health whose achievement requires special attention from both health system policymakers and service providers to the elderly. Death anxiety is one of the most common mental health issues in old age, because this period is full of feelings of shortcomings and disabilities. Since death anxiety is a multidimensional factor, it is expected to affect many aspects of the elderly. The present study aims to review and analyze published studies in the field of death anxiety in the elderly in Iran. Methods & Materials: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted on the studies related to the death anxiety of the elderly in Iran published in Persian from 2011 to 2019. A search was conducted in national databases, including SID, IranDoc, MagIran, IDML, and CIVILICA using the keywords: Death anxiety, elderly, and older adult. Initial search yielded 61 articles. After screening, 33 studies that met the entry and exit criteria were selected for the final review. We used Stata v. 14 and SPSS v. 22 applications to perform meta-analysis. Results: In the studies, 40.35% of the participants were older women and the rest were older men with a mean age of 67.80±6.44 years. The mean score of death anxiety was higher in men than in women, and the elderly living in nursing homes had the highest score (11.8). Studies were categorized into three sections: comparison (3 studies), intervention (11 studies), and factors affecting the death anxiety (18 studies). The results of meta-analysis showed no significant relationship between spiritual therapy and reduction of death anxiety in the elderly (P>0.05). In studies with spiritual and behavioral therapies, the heterogeneity was significant and, thus, a significant positive relationship was observed between the reduction of death anxiety and these treatments methods. Conclusion: The death anxiety level of the elderly in Iran is low. Religious beliefs, hopes for the intercession of imams and religious leaders, and hopes for freedom from the hardships of worldly life seem to have contributed to low death anxiety in Iran. Different death anxiety scores have been reported for older men and women in Iran may be due to the effect of culture, religion, and traditions, the difference in the roles of men and women, and even the expression of fear and anxiety. Most of men have less tendency to express their emotions, including fear, while women are more likely to express their feelings. Behavioral and spiritual interventions lead to a decrease in the elderly’s death anxiety through affecting their finding meaning in life.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ankita Budhiraja ◽  
Punam Midha

Spirituality, being a virtuous approach against dark materialistic world has an ability to transcend any phase of life. As a matter of fact during old age the fear of death generally overpowers elderly. They overcome this anxiety successfully by moving and focusing towards spirituality, which is considered a path leading to piousness and inner peace. Experience of spirituality helps them to think beyond this materialistic world, where old age is not considered as an end to life, but a preparation for the welcome of a new life. Thus with these ideas in mind, the present study was an attempt to explore the relation between spirituality and death anxiety among geriatrics. A purposive sample of 200 elderly both male and female with the age range of 60-80 years was drawn from Rohtak city, Haryana. The descriptive statistics indicated the high level of spirituality and average level of death anxiety among elderly. Further, correlational analysis showed that there existed a negative correlation between spirituality and death anxiety which indicates the healing power of spirituality among elderly.


2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. E11-E17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudi De Raedt ◽  
Nele Van Der Speeten

2011 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfred Eggersdorfer ◽  
Paul Walter

Nutrition is important for human health in all stages of life - from conception to old age. Today we know much more about the molecular basis of nutrition. Most importantly, we have learnt that micronutrients, among other factors, interact with genes, and new science is increasingly providing more tools to clarify this interrelation between health and nutrition. Sufficient intake of vitamins is essential to achieve maximum health benefit. It is well established that in developing countries, millions of people still suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. However, it is far less recognized that we face micronutrient insufficiencies also in developed countries.


GeroPsych ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 246-251
Author(s):  
Gozde Cetinkol ◽  
Gulbahar Bastug ◽  
E. Tugba Ozel Kizil

Abstract. Depression in older adults can be explained by Erikson’s theory on the conflict of ego integrity versus hopelessness. The study investigated the relationship between past acceptance, hopelessness, death anxiety, and depressive symptoms in 100 older (≥50 years) adults. The total Beck Hopelessness (BHS), Geriatric Depression (GDS), and Accepting the Past (ACPAST) subscale scores of the depressed group were higher, while the total Death Anxiety (DAS) and Reminiscing the Past (REM) subscale scores of both groups were similar. A regression analysis revealed that the BHS, DAS, and ACPAST predicted the GDS. Past acceptance seems to be important for ego integrity in older adults.


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