Some Reflections on Erikson’s Ninth Stage of Life: Introduction to the Panel on Aging

Abstract

In my introduction to these three papers on the experience of aging, I begin with my observations on aging in the 9th Stage of Life (a stage added by Erik Erickson in 1984, when he himself was nearing death) by talking about my own aging, 87-year-old husband whose end of life included changes in himself that no one who knew him, including himself, would have predicted. Following these thoughts I review the excellent essays that follow, which take the perspectives of aging from both personal and professional perspectives.

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Notes on contributors

Estelle Shane

Estelle Shane, Ph.D., is Training and Supervising Analyst and Faculty Member at the New Center for Psychoanalysis, and Founding Member, Board Member, Training and Supervising Analyst, and Faculty Member of the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, both in Los Angeles. She has written numerous papers and coauthored one book, Developmental Systems in Self Psychology, published in 1997 by Guilford Press.