Do you think that the historical events our current elderly population witnessed altered their mental state?
I’m doing a research topic for school and I’m just curious on peoples opinion on the topic. With age many peoples mental status starts to go. Could this mental decay be slightly caused by all of the traumatic events they have had to witness? Do you think that the historical events such as The Cold War, Vietnam War, The Great Depression, Cuban Missile Crisis, the assignations of a great president and the fall of the Twin Towers, our current elderly population witnessed altered their mental state?
Tagged with: assignations • cold war • cuban missile crisis • elderly population • great depression • historical events • mental decay • research topic • traumatic events • twin towers • vietnam war • war vietnam
Filed under: Elderly Care
Well not this is a toughie. Would you agree that they may have affected our senior citizens as much as hard rock, metallica, rap and video games not to mention the internet has affected our younger generations? I for one do not believe the events I have witnessed and experienced hurt me in any way. Good luck to you pardner.
No or everyone would be daft
Only to some extent because wisdom is attained with age.
No, if anything it jolts us into reality, again and again. To fold and give up because everything isn’t lollipops and festive is not part of our creed.
nope — i do think living though these events did give us strength to carry on out daily lives and made us better persons!!!
This strikes me as a very amusing question given you to write about.
For the answer would obviously be a loud, "no" from anyone. If anything we have been greatly educated by being around to have wit-
nessed these things on live TV. If there was any manipulation by the
press, it was covered up. No we are wiser, and more strenthened by
learning we no longer live in a protected environment. That no one is
safe, and we cannot live in a fantasy world as many of us did as
children. We now know our country is not impregnable. And that we
can be destroyed from forces within the country boundaries, if terr-
orists set their minds to it. For getting in, is no longer a problem,
with lax security along our perimeters. You forgot to include the
production of the atom bomb. There was much fall out in the testing
area, and at the time, a western movie was being filmed just outside
of that general testing area. It affected every cast member in that
film, for each developed a form of cancer, that they all died from in
later years. This included the well known and popular actor, John
Wayne. I wonder if you teacher knows that bit of trivia.
Possibly for those who were close to the events. Personally, the current economic and upsetting things happening now make me want to either tear my hair out or go outside and just scream as loud as I can. I fear for my sanity at this time of life. So much for the Golden Years.
NO.
i dont think so.i survived the first gulf war,endured the traumatic deaths of army friends and civilian friends,who died tragically stateside,no military involvement,but tragic none-the-less,murder,accident and illness that killed at a young age-17,21.i think back to several of my brilliant college professors,who clearly had the tattoo from hitlers death camps on their forearms.these men were bloody brilliant,having survived the horrors we can only imagine,and having lost their loved ones brutally.i think genes,combined with environmental factors,cause altzheimers.but those who see horrors and survive,are strengthened in resolve,wisdom and in compassion.tragedy doesnt rot the brain,it expands and tempers the human spirit.besides,my wife worked in an altzheimers ward for 12 years,most of the people there had fairly uneventful lives-most were women,housewives,whose husbands were survivors of ww2 and korea.in other words,no history of loss or particular tragedy.not downplaying what these women and men suffered with their illness-just saying,i dont see a correlation.several of the women my wife worked with,were her grade-school teachers,who had rather pleasant lives and careers they enjoyed.there were some men as well,but not as many,as they tend to die b4 women.im not being biased,men get altzheimers too.interestingly,2 of the men on her ward had been amatuer boxers in youth-possible correlation-head trauma.look around.the vast amount of ww2 soldiers u will talk to,are not victims of altzheimers.my father is 83 this thurs,he lectures at schools about the war.he had stress ands saw people die-he is perfectly lucid.so are the buddies he gets together with yearly,from his old battleship.
Historical events cannot alter a persons state of mind. . .It may make them more aware, more mentally alert than normal. To me, it sharpens the mind, not dulls it. We see catastrophic events and we learn from them. . we evaluate them and see what we can do to prevent them from happening again. While we are in the midst of a horrific event, some may be frightened or become depressed or suffer post traumatic stress disorder, but these are anxiety disorders and will not decay the mind.
I think ANYONE’S mental state can be altered due to historical events. Consider the soldiers who are coming home from the war with PTSD (close to 1/3). Many of these people will never be the same. 9/11 had a tremendous impact on a lot of people and many people will be forever changed.
Absolutely & how could that not have happened?
No. Many were affected by the Viet Nam war, those that were in Nam. It’s spelled assassination. JFK’s murder was a shock, not mentally. Except for Oswald & Jack Ruby.
The Veteran’s mental hospitals were full of broken soldiers after wars, the trauma of war not only affects the people who serve in the military but their families too,. I wouldn’t necessarily call it "mental decay", but coping with these types of stresses repeatedly for one generation after another is bound to have serious effects on society for decades. Have known several veteran’s who were misdiagnosed for decades by the VA and some only recently got the correct diagnosis and treatment, even if in their elderly years, suppose it is better than spending the entire remaining years untreated. I believe "decay" is not the proper word as it means "rotting" more like neglect or mistreatment in many cases.
Not in my case, I remember the German bombers coming over Scotland, during the last war, and droping their bombs all over the place.
Just as the German children will remember as well, I was glad when it was all over, we had a party in the street, and we had all the flags flying
it was great.
My mother told us not to worry, even when a bomb fell in the next street, she said everything would be fine, she was our mother so we believed her.
While these things happened they didnt happen personally to each person. I can understand PTSD after a huge disaster or war if a person was actually there but all through time there have been disasters. Its just now the media is able to report them to everyone.
No, not at all. 99% of my mothers and grandparents generation lived into their 80s and 90s and they were all sharp as a tack right to the end.
The hard times – real economic depression, wars, etc – that they lived through gave them the strength to endure just about anything.
The main thing they gained from those times was a sense of perspective. They learned not to let the little things bother them and also just what a large percentage of our "problems" are really little things.
Prime example:
My great-grandmother was born in 1868 and lived to 1964. By the time she was 26 she was a widow with four children. She lived through the Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Korea and saw the beginning of Vietnam. She lived through the death of two husbands and her own daughter. She lived through the great depression – although most of her life had not been much better to begin with.
She was the most loving, happy, sweet woman I have ever met.
When she was in her early 90s we asked her "Of all the modern conveniences you have now, what would you hate to give up most?" We, of course were thinking about TV, radio, cars, planes, refrigerator, washing machine, telephone etc. She looked at us and said simply "running water".
Running water meant you wouldn’t have to be thirsty, you could grown at least enough food to feed your children, you could maintain sanitary conditions for your family.
Perspective.
Alfred P. Murray Building in Oklahoma City on the second anniversary of the Waco Siege, April 19, 1995, you forgot that one. I remember them counting the dead children. I cried for days. Then the twin towers gave me a meltdown.
Mental decay is usually not precipitated by events although SOME events can cause MEGA stress and things like PTSD…and yes, affect mental accuity and mental well being, though not necessarily ‘decay’.
My Dad was an infantry officer in the Army and when he passed, way too young at 73, I had an autopsy performed and the neurosurgeon told me that years of stress due to wars, MIA, POW etc caused deterioration in his blood vessels. However, he was not senile whatsoever.
If anything, IMHO, having lived through those many events you mention and more, tend to make one MORE appreciative of LIFE and how to put LIVING in your Years!..thus making for BETTER mental ’state’ as you call it
Altered their mental states? Yes, events around you are sure to make a difference in the way you think about things. Cause mental decay? No, of course not! You can be altered without causing decay.
For example, both my Mom and my mother in law became very frugal. Always were conscious of how much money they were spending. Mother in law was really upset. Never, ever bought anything, even if she truly needed it, unless it was on sale. Leftover from the Great Depression.
Both of them had recipes that they always used for eggless cakes and things, as a leftover from WWII and the rationing.
It would appear that your research paper is heavily biased against the objectivity of war prevention. You made your conclusion first, now you proceed to surround it with unsupported myth about the elderly state of mental health.
Have you ever given thought that all people face illness once or twice in their lives of major proportions. That Medicines can cause some form of damages. That drug abuse in their earlier years along with alcohol abuse had a greater degree in causing the faults that you so wantonly point out.
Hereditary has a lot more to do with mental illness then does war. Diet is another factor and not the cold war of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 8’s.
The Great Depression made us wiser. I know, I see that the youth of today have not taken up the advice of the elderly. And we sit by just watching panic and fear. History is repeating itself.
personally, these events did not alter my mental state….but my husband was a Marine in the Viet Nam war, and two of his brothers were killed there. SO, I do think it has effected his mental state, he just last year had his first flash back from the war. I think the human mind is different from animals because we have the ability to rationalize events, and accept things. Also, if you would talk to people who were in Nazi concentration camps….these are strong strong people, who saw such horrible events daily, and have went on to live their own lives. The human mind is a wonderful thing…..some people can not forget, but learn to live with the memories
Not on mine it kept me reading and learning at each and every one of those. Yes I was around for it all. Makes you strong and willing to carry on and see what the world has in store for you. Learn while you can.
Well, if a person was actually there, and involved in a tragic event, I’d say "maybe" they’d be affected. But for the vast majority of us, we were aware of these events through reading about them in the paper, or seeing them on television. World events have not had any appreciable effect on me, and I would think it would be the same for anyone . Mental deterioration happens to most people with age, no matter what sort of life they have led. Its a sort of lucky dip – or unlucky dip I should say – as to who gets severely affected. Your question is interesting, but I think, incorrect in its supposition. Good luck with your assignment.
I can tell you that my late mother told me many things about growing up in the depression, being involved in WWII etc made her a tough cookie when it came to coping with life’s trials. That generation has been nicknamed the greatest generation for a reason. For the most part, those people are survivors, they stood on their own two feet and handled their own problems without asking for handouts from Uncle Sam and told it like it was without having to worry about being PC. I often think that with my mindset, I was born a generation too late.
No. That’s a far fetch assumption. I could see an event like 911 causing certain individuals to become depressed or suffer some mental condition. But age would not be an issue.
I suggest you search the professional literature.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psychiatric_Association
Most people by time they are 70, 80 or more, have seen or experienced truthful historical examples of decades of cruelty, mismanagement and injustice done by humans, organizations, or world leaders because of greed, hate,or self interest, such as the holocaust for example. Bad events wouldn’t have anything to do with"mental decay", but it would mental depression. Many people who are still sharp and aware of of things at an older age have seen or lived through many events. Some have been through more than others though, and anyone of any age would feel depressed naturally, after experiencing some of these things.These pages will help to explain and might help answer some of your question.http://www.watchtower.org/e/200602/article_02.htm
Every major event effects us in one way or another,right?
Not their mental state but the way they conduct their lives. I think my parents’ generation is amazingly resilient and by and large (at least by the ones I know) are in great mental and physical health. Sure, they have age-related body breakdowns and are slowing down but they seem to be in far better health then my generation (just from the shape we are in). I don’t think current events deplete or twist up brain cells and if anything, it’s made them stronger, more resourceful, more determined to survive through thick and thin.
All people are affected at least somewhat by what they must watch and endure. Children in our present day are going to grow up and have phobias about joblessness and homelessness and domestic violence. It WILL affect them, in some way.
Mental discipline can often overcome these events, but the emotional damages will last a lifetime.
No, I do not think what we’ve witnessed altered our mental state. Your instructor is challenging you to research whether the effect of a lifetime of witnessing traumatic events is cumulative. What acuity is lost is sometimes natural with time, even spent in utopia. Those who keep food over-supplied in memory of the great depression understand the nature of free enterprise, that it rises and falls, and though that food may be an unnecessary habit, it certainly isn’t now, in this recurrent downfall.
"Decay" is an inaccurate concept of yours. And remember with all these decades of living, between every traumatic event were long periods of industrious productivity, enjoyment of the outdoors, joy of babies and children, cherishing of pets, the general replenishing sources of strength and reflection we all spend a great deal more time than traumatic events take. War veterans recover or not as individually as dementia strikes individually or not.
Though it is common for youth to dread aging, in most cases it is a sad misconception. The immediacy and fragility of living is appreciated more sharply witnessing traumatic events, being reminded any of those catastrophes could have involved you instead, but for geography. In cases such as both Kennedy assassinations, King’s, and all other events that change American direction, it does indeed happen to you, necessitating adaption. In cases such as earthquakes, mine collapses, hurricanes, fires, and volcano eruptions, you learn the depth of empathy. In cases such as murder, rape, child molestation, and other crimes, your awareness of the ugly side of living balances with perspective, and appreciation that it wasn’t you. In so many cases, overall, life is arbitrary and depends on variables.