fear
Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...
of age-related self-degeneration (similar to
Gerascophobia
Gerascophobia is an abnormal or incessant fear of growing older or ageing (senescence).
Background
Gerascophobia is a clinical phobia generally classified under specific phobias or fears of a single specific panic trigger. Gerascophobia may be ...
), or a hatred or fear of the elderly due to
memento mori
''Memento mori'' (Latin for 'remember that you ave todie'Thanatophobia as fear of old age can be a precursor to fear of death. Gerontophobia can be caused by harmful stereotypes of elderly people displayed in the media
Ageism
Discriminatory aspects of
ageism
Ageism, also spelled agism, is discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism. Butler d ...
have been strongly linked to gerontophobia. This irrational fear or hatred of the elderly can be associated with the expectation that someday all young people including oneself will be old inevitably and suffer from the irreversible health decline that comes with
old age
Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usa ...
, which is associated with
disability
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
,
disease
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
, and
death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
. The sight of aged people could be a possible reminder of death (''
memento mori
''Memento mori'' (Latin for 'remember that you ave todie'
History
Old age was previously seen as a golden age in the Middle Ages Around the time of the Anglo-Saxons there was a shift towards more negative views of the elderly, which led to more and more literature developing a Gerontophobic view.
Portrayal in Literature and the Media
Gerontophobia is heavily portrayed in literature and the media starting as early as Anglo-saxon poetry but is also found in common literary classics such as
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's
King Lear
''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane a ...
,
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Du ...
's Gulliver's Travels, and
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
's Persuasion Gerontophobia can also be found in many TV shows and movies.
Treatments for Gerontophobia
Treatment for Gerontophobia can include better education about the elderly and aging as well as an increase in exposure and insight therapy.
See also
*
Gerascophobia
Gerascophobia is an abnormal or incessant fear of growing older or ageing (senescence).
Background
Gerascophobia is a clinical phobia generally classified under specific phobias or fears of a single specific panic trigger. Gerascophobia may be ...
*
Gerontocracy
A gerontocracy is a form of oligarchical rule in which an entity is ruled by leaders who are significantly older than most of the adult population. In many political structures, power within the ruling class accumulates with age, making the oldes ...
*
Intergenerational equity
Intergenerational equity in economic, psychological, and sociological contexts, is the idea of fairness or justice between generations. The concept can be applied to fairness in dynamics between children, youth, adults, and seniors. It can al ...
*
List of phobias
The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe (from Greek φόβος ''phobos'', "fear") occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, abnormal, unwarranted, persistent, or disabling fear as a mental dis ...