The Traumatized Older Individual and Society

Abstract

As life expectancy increases and the baby-boom generation ages, clinicians will see a growing aging population, many of whom have experienced individual or mass psychic trauma. In these individuals, a personal history of trauma can compound the expected traumas of aging. This chapter provides the epidemiology of older adults who have experienced trauma and discusses issues such individuals face, as well as measures clinicians can use to avoid retraumatization. There is a relatively high prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among older persons generally. Fragile elders with a history of helplessness, trauma, and massive loss are vulnerable to reactivation of posttraumatic symptomatology through the experience of pain, fear, or helplessness that can accompany even ordinary aging, especially in nursing homes. Aging persons show varying levels of resilience in the face of trauma due to genetic factors and/or life experience. Clinicians and researchers need to take into account individual, family, and communal histories of trauma and respect patients’ autonomy in order to implement an informed-consent process within a trusting patient–family–clinician alliance.