ON OLD AGE II: A CONVERSATION WITH JOAN ERIKSON AT 92

1995 (30 min) $125.   ISBN: 1-891340-53-0       [Available with Spanish Subtitles]

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Reflecting on her own experience, Joan Erikson finds that very old age is different from mere old age and decides that it merits a stage of its own in the Eriksonian Life Cycle.  Only two years have passed since the filming of ON OLD AGE 1, but in that time Mrs. Erikson has had to place her husband in a care facility and experienced his death there, has left her Boston home for a group living situation for herself and has begun to feel physically frail.  She has apt, and sometimes appropriately feisty, responses to all this as she relates her experiences and makes suggestions on how things could be made better for people in this life stage.  The film presents her formulation of the Ninth Stage of life, that of very old age. What she labels her “indomitable core” comes through as Mrs. Erikson faces the challenges of this stage of life.

Film content:

            Search for a care facility for her husband, Erik Erikson, and the criteria she used

                        Critique of how our society deals with frail elders

                        Suggestions to caregivers about communicating with their patients

            His death and her reaction to it and to current mortuary practices

            Her difficult experience of group living and seeking another situation for herself

            The Ninth Stage which reverses the attributes of the previous eight stages of the Eriksonian Life Cycle presented with examples from her own experiences

Visuals:  The majority of the film is an interview with Joan Erikson.  She is seen in various contexts as she meets and converses with people of all ages, plays with a cat and walks in a garden.

Consultant: 

Joan Erikson was a professional dancer, artist and writer.  She also worked as an art therapist with mental health patients.  She edited her husband’s early books and collaborated with him on later ones as well as writing others independently.  Especially notable are VITAL INVOLVEMENT IN OLD AGE and THE LIFE CYCLE COMPLETED.  Joan Erikson died in 1997 at the age of 95.

Related Davidson Films productions:

ON OLD AGE 1: A CONVERSATION WITH JOAN ERIKSON AT 90

ERIK ERIKSON: A LIFE’S WORK 

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