Years ago, when I was teaching a graduate course on adult development and aging, I
came across a cartoon by Roz Chast in the New Yorker magazine entitled “Mental Baggage
Claim.”
1
On a moving conveyor belt, people were waiting to pick up their historical baggage:
“Excuse me, I believe I see my resentment of physical beauty.” “Those life-long regrets
about stopping ballet lessons when I was ten? Those are mine.” “Oh, there's my hypochondria
coming out right now.” Not adequately coming to terms with issues in lives can have
life-long consequences that carry over into late life. This can be true of past negative
life events.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
R Chast, “Mental Baggage Claim” cartoon published in The New Yorker magazine, September 24, 1990.
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- Variety is the spice of life: social integration and daily activity.J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2020; 75: 377-388
- Anxiety, depression, loneliness and social network in the elderly: longitudinal associations from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).J Affect Disord. 2019; 246 (ISSN 0165-0327, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.12.043): 82-88
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 22, 2021
Accepted:
January 19,
2021
Received:
January 19,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
