Old age is a special period of life, with obvious changes in physiology and psychology, and it is prone to many diseases. Therefore, understanding the changing characteristics of old age and giving psychological care in time can improve the quality of life and make them spend their old age happily.

With the progress and development of society, the aging of the world population has become increasingly obvious, which has become an important social problem faced by all countries in the 2/kloc-0 century. There are 600 million elderly people over 60 in the world. At present, more than 50 countries and regions in the world have entered an aging society. There are more than 654.38+billion elderly people in China, accounting for 6543.8+0/5 of the world's elderly population, and more than 9 million people over 80 years old. The average life expectancy of the population has been generally extended, and the problem of aging has become increasingly prominent. With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the improvement of medical environment and the good treatment of physical diseases, psychological problems have been paid more and more attention.

Old age is a special period in life, a stage towards the completion of life, and the last period to realize the value of life as a person. During this period, with the decline of life adaptability and physical condition, it is easy to produce various psychological obstacles, so psychological care for the elderly is particularly important.

1 Characteristics of the elderly

1. 1 cognitive changes in old age: with the increase of age, the adaptive changes of sensory perception are the most obvious. It is characterized by a significant decline in vision, which is called "presbyopia"; Hearing loss, especially after 70 years old; After the age of 60, the taste, smell and skin feeling decreased significantly; Memory decline is manifested in memory span, mechanical memorization, recognition and recall [1]; Changes in thinking: with the increase of age, the quality of brain tissue and the number of brain cells decrease and shrink, and thinking is slow. However, in real life, most government officials and decision makers in large and medium-sized enterprises are over 50 years old, or even over 70 years old, which shows the great individual differences in thinking. Although the thinking speed is gradually slowing down, it can be compensated by experience, skills or professional knowledge.

1.2 social changes of the elderly: from social people to free people, social roles have changed, and they may not adapt in the short term, which will bring about emotional changes, such as depression, frustration and irritability.

1.3 personality change: insecurity is mainly manifested in two aspects: physical health and economic security. Loneliness caused by losing power; Children don't care much about the loneliness and pain caused by losing their spouses. Poor adaptability, passive attitude and way towards the surrounding environment, attachment to existing habits is difficult to adapt to the new environment, rigid, dull and conservative.

2 Common psychological problems of the elderly

2. 1 Anxiety and nervousness: With the increase of age, the functions of various organs in the elderly are reduced and they are prone to various chronic diseases. Because of the worry about health problems, they are afraid that they will get an incurable disease, bring troubles to their families, bring themselves pain and anxiety, even lose sleep at night, lose appetite, and reduce their physical resistance, which is more prone to physical diseases and cause a vicious circle.

2.2 Depression: Due to the change of social role after retirement, it is difficult to adapt for a while, and I think that I have made no contribution to society and family, which has become a burden to society and family, leading to depression. Some people live alone, their children are busy with their own affairs, and they lack care and care for the elderly. Over time, they feel that life is meaningless, leading to depression. Others live in physical diseases for a long time.

During the torture, I felt that life was hopeless and committed suicide.

2.3 communication barriers, interpersonal tension [2]: The elderly due to brain tissue atrophy, decreased brain cells, decreased brain function, decreased intelligence, decreased memory, sensitivity, paranoia, nagging, distrust of people, haggle over every ounce and so on. , leading to difficulties in communicating with family members and people around them, and tense interpersonal relationships.

3 Psychological nursing

3. 1 Establish the meaning of existence and treat the changes of the body correctly: people are self-conscious, and so are the elderly. Old people should objectively realize that time and tide wait for no man, treat physical changes correctly, have regular physical examinations, find diseases and treat them as soon as possible. Don't take chances, be careless, cheat others and delay treatment; Don't be intimidated by illness, face death calmly, think that birth, aging, illness and death are natural laws, and live every day carefully, not only to provide yourself with a sense of security, but also to be happy, study and make a difference.

3.2 Keep in touch with the external environment: that is, contact with nature, society and people. This can not only enrich your spiritual life and make you happy, but also adjust your behavior in time to better adapt to the environment. Make mental preparations before retirement and realize that retirement is to hand over jobs to young people, which is conducive to improving the quality and efficiency of work, thus contributing to social development and avoiding "pension death". After retirement, take part in some social welfare activities as much as possible to give full play to the residual heat. Cultivate more hobbies and make life colorful.

3.3 Regular life, moderate body and mind: Let the elderly learn to arrange regular life and reasonable rest time, and exercise selectively and regularly according to their hobbies and physical condition.

Including running, playing ball, climbing mountains, Tai Ji Chuan and other physical exercises and mental exercises such as chess and cards, can not only enhance physical fitness, but also delay the decline of brain function and effectively delay the decline of advanced psychological functions such as memory, thinking ability and energy.

3.4 Family harmony is the basis of the physical and mental health of the elderly: the elderly often feel lonely and hope to get care, love and care from their families. Therefore, children should always communicate with the elderly and discuss things with them, so that the elderly can get the respect they deserve, and widowed elderly people will feel lonely when they live alone. Therefore, children should understand the courtship needs of the elderly, support their courtship behavior and satisfy their wishes.

In a word, old age is a special period of life, and it is a period when physical and psychological problems are easy to occur. Therefore, it is necessary to fully understand the changing characteristics of the elderly, discover the changes of the elderly in time, establish good interpersonal relationships, maintain communication with family and society, treat chronic diseases in time, develop good living habits, and establish an optimistic and cheerful attitude towards life, so that they can spend their old age happily.

refer to

1 Editor Guo Nianfeng. Training materials for psychological counselors. Basic knowledge. Ethnic Publishing House, P24 1 ~ 248.

2 Ding Helan. Journal of Clinical Psychosomatic Diseases, 2005+00 (3) 277.