Fear is a natural, irrational emotion that can potentially make life miserable for the affected person (Bektaş, Körükcü & Kabukcuoğlu, 2017). While phobia is an illogical, intense and persistent fear that is realized in particular activities, situations, people or things. Phobias are generated by a combination of the external threats and internal weaknesses. There is nothing wrong with getting elderly. Getting old is a natural part of human life cycle. Unfortunately, getting old sometimes comes with some legitimate fears (Bektaş, Körükcü & Kabukcuoğlu, 2017). I have interacted with my grandmother for the last five years, she is now 75 years, and she has over time expressed to me some of her greatest fears and phobias as she ages gracefully.
Some of my grandmother's fears include; loss of independence, safety and security concerns, loss of memory, declining health, fear of falling and breaking her bones, loss of familiar environment, lack of money, loss of personal dignity, loss of the ability to drive and the death of her spouse. When I further interrogated her on her most significant fear, she noted the death of her husband. The reason given was, he was her best friend, and his death would make her not desire to live anymore, as he is the closest human being who she knows easily understand and delivers her needs.
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A recent study noted that approximately 60% of the elderly have environmental related phobias and as they age there is the continual increment in some phobias among the older people (Tsonga et al., 2016). Some of my grandmother’s identified phobias are; excessive fears of heights, riding elevators, being in cramped spaces and she also hates flying. Notably, during the early years, grandmother phobias were not evident, but with time, the phobias have become unbearable for her when she is pre-exposed to these factors. Conclusively, the elderly have almost same fears and phobias. Therefore, it is critical for the primary caregivers to understand these fears and phobias to make life more comfortable for the elderly.
References
Bektaş, H., Körükcü, Ö., & Kabukcuoğlu, K. (2017). Undercover fear of elderly people in nursing homes: Death anxiety and depression. Journal of Human Sciences , 14 (1), 587-597.
Tsonga, T., Michalopoulou, M., Kapetanakis, S., Giovannopoulou, E., Malliou, P., Godolias, G., & Soucacos, P. (2016). Risk factors for fear of falling in elderly patients with severe knee osteoarthritis before and one year after total knee arthroplasty. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery , 24 (3), 302-306.
