Abstract
This article elucidates the immigrant's encounter with the developmental tasks of middle and old age. It describes the vicissitudes of five psychosocial challenges characteristic of this phase of life and underscores the difficulties faced by the immigrant in each of these realms. These challenges include (1) letting go of the children, (2) retirement, (3) grandparenthood, (4) loss of siblings and peers through death, and (5) declining physical health and anticipation of death. It is suggested that preexisting capacity for mourning alongside a satisfactory marriage, support from homoethnic community, non-job-related sublimations, economic security, and absence of undue physical ailments help sustain a positive attitude as one faces these phase-specific dilemmas of late adult life.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Akhtar, S. (1992) Tethers, orbits, and invisible fences: Clinical, developmental, sociocultural, and technical aspects of optimal distance. In S. Kramer and S. Akhtar (Eds.),When the body speaks: Psychological meanings in kinetic clues(pp. 21–57). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Akhtar, S. (1994). Object constancy and adult psychopathology. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 75, 441–455.
Akhtar, S. (1995). A third individuation: Immigration, identity, and the psychoanalytic process. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 43, 1051–1084. Akhtar, S. (1999). Immigration and identity: Turmoil, treatment, and transformation. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Akhtar, S. (2001). Three faces of mourning: Melancholia, manic defense, and moving on. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. Akhtar, S., and Smolar, A. (1998). Visiting the father's grave. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 67, 474–483.
Bonovitz, J., and Ergas, R. (1999). The affective experience of the immigrant child. Mind and Human Interaction, 10, 15–25.
Carlin, J. (1990). Refugee and immigrant populations at special risk. In W. H. Holtzman and T. H. Bornemann (Eds.), Mental health of immigrants and refugees(pp. 233–246). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Cath, S. H. (1997). Loss and restitution in late life. In S. Akhtar and S. Kramer (Eds.),The season of life: Separation–individuation perspectives(pp. 127–156). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Coburn, K. L., and Treeger, M. L. (1997). Letting go: A parents' guide to understanding the college years. New York: Harper Collins.
Colarusso, C. A. (1997). Separation–individuation processes in middle adulthood: The fourth individuation. In S. Akhtar and S. Kramer (Eds.), The seasons of life: Separation–individuation perspectives(pp. 73–94). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Elovitz, P. H., and Kahn, C. (1997). Immigrant experiences. Cranberry, NJ: Associated University Press.
Erikson, E., and Erikson, J. (1997). The life completed: Extended version with new chapters on the ninth stage of development. New York: W.W. Norton
Freud, S. (1917). Mourning and melancholia. Standard Edition, 14, 237–258.
Grinberg, L., and Grinberg, R. (1989). Psychoanalytic perspectives on migration and exile. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Klein, M. (1975). Mourning and its relation to manic-depressive states. In The writings of Melanie Klein, Volume I: Love, guilt, and reparation(pp. 344–369). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1940)
Klicker, R. L. (2000). Cremation guidelines. Madison, AL: Guideline Publications.
Kramer, S., Byerly, L. J., and Akhtar, S. (1997). Growing together, growing apart, growing up, and growing down. In S. Akhtar and S. Kramer (Eds.),The seasons of life: Separation–individuation perspectives(pp. 2–22). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Madow, L. (1997). On the way to a second symbiosis. In S. Akhtar and S. Kramer (Eds.),The seasons of life: Separation–individuation perspectives(pp. 157–170). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Mehta, P. (1998). The emergence, conflicts, and integration of the bicultural self: Psychoanalysis of an adolescent daughter of South-Asian immigrant parents. In S. Akhtar and S. Kramer (Eds.),The colors of childhood: Separation–individuation across cultural, racial, and ethnic differences (pp. 129–168). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. ai]Parens, H. (1998). The impact of cultural holding environment on psychic development. In S. Akhtar and S. Kramer (Eds.),The colors of childhood: Separation–individuation across cultural, racial, and ethnic differences(pp. 199–230). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Prathikanti, S. (1997). East Indian American families. In E. Lee (Eds.), Working with Asian Americans: A guide for clinicians(pp. 79–100). New York: Guilford.
Roland, A. (1988). In search of self in India and Japan: Toward a cross-cultural psychology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Suarez-Orozco, J., and Suarez-Orozco, R. (2001). Children of migration. Boston: Harvard University Press.
Wolf, S. (1997). Selfobject experiences: development, psychopathology, treatment. In S. Kramer and S. Akhtar (Eds.), Mahler and Kohut: Perspectives on development, psychopathology, and technique (pp. 65–96). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Woodward, K. M. (1991). The transitional objects of the oldest age. In Aging and its discontents: Freud and other fictions(pp. 131–146). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Akhtar, S., Choi, L.W. When Evening Falls: The Immigrant's Encounter with Middle and Old Age. Am J Psychoanal 64, 183–191 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:TAJP.0000027272.64645.f2
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:TAJP.0000027272.64645.f2