Parallels Between Aging and Schizophrenia

Abstract

As I grow old and struggle to cope with the infirmities of age, I marvel at the resilience of my patients who grapple with and overcome the indignities of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia research is mainly about the deficits, about the many difficulties patients face. It rarely celebrates the accomplishments of patients, their ability, on the whole, to accommodate and adapt to the constraints of their illness. This paper focuses on the gerontology literature, where old age is conceptualized less as defeat, more as a process one can successfully manage. Effective strategies old people use are studied and valued. This is in marked contrast with the psychiatric literature that pathologizes the compensatory strategies used in schizophrenia.