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Title: The Creative Age : Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life by Ph.D. M.D. Cohen Gene D. ISBN: 0-380-80071-3 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 23 January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: A book that perpetuates aging stereotypes
Comment: The book perpetuates harmful stereotypes about aging. Cohen chastises older people who try to take care of their health. He claims that they are searching in vain for a "magic bullet" to regain their youth. Cohen then advocates a false mind/body dualism. Through this dualism, one gives up taking care of their body in order to follow their creativity. I honor the author's belief in the importance of creativity; however, I believe that the approach presented is self-defeating.
Rating: 5
Summary: Just What the Doctor Ordered!
Comment: As a 64-year-old elder, I was delighted by Dr. Cohen's marvelous book. What an inspiration to me and others in my age group Wait - Not only to me but for me and others of any age - The recommendations and ideas presented are superb - the examples delightful. Also - a key element is Dr. Cohen's TR/Bio - a program of visual stimulants to help caregivers and family and friends to deal more effectively and humanely with sufferers of Alzeimer's Disease. All told - the book cannot be praised too highly!
Rating: 5
Summary: The Creative Age.Awakening Human Potential in the Second Hal
Comment: This is one of the best books I have read on the subject of Creativity in Later Life. I recommend it heartily. Dr. Cohen, M.D. & Ph.D. has become the acknowledged leader in this field with his brilliant synthesis of his 25 years of experience working with older adults as a geriatric physician and creativity researcher. "We need a new frame of reference in which to picture ourselves growing and recognize how the influence of inner resources and life circumstances can present us with opportunities to revive our lives in meaningful and satisfying ways," Cohen maintains. His experience with his patients and his studies of aging and creativity in the arts led him to revise Erik Erikson's model of adult development in the later years. He divided Erikson's final stages of generativity & integrity into four developmental phases which he claims shape the way our creative energy grows and the way we express it. Each phase, he says, is shaped by our chronological age, our history, and our circumstances. And each phase is characterized by changes in how we view and experience life in a combined psychological, emotional and intellectual sense. The four phases are: 1. Midlife Reevaluation/Quest Phase 2. Liberation Phase (Formerly called Retirement) 3. Late-life Summing-Up Phase 4. The Encore Phase If we look beyond age markers for the Retirement of Liberation phase and search, instead, for the underlying developmental phase here, we find that it is defined by a kind of personal liberation combined with life experience that lifts inhibitions and gives us the courage to ignore social conventions that restrict our creative expression. In this Liberation phase creative endeavors are shaped with the added energy of a new degree of personal freedom that comes both psychologically from within us and externally through retirement. Our creative juices may be mobilized by the thought "If not now, when?" People tend to feel pretty comfortable about themselves at this time , knowing that if they should make a mistake it won't undo the image others have of them, and more importantly, it won't undo the image they have of themselves. This psychological and emotional understanding provides a new context for experimentation, and retirement often provides a new feeling of finally having free time to try something new. Both these inner and outer elements are liberating and additive. This new sense of available Time and personal Liberty in later life, combined with significant life experience, produces new feelings of freedom, courage, and confidence commonly described by men and women of advanced age. Here, too, contrary to negative stereotypes, the feeling of being more free allows older individuals to experiment, to take a risk, to try something new. Most of us, as we head into our sixties, have become more comfortable with who we are. If we make a mistake while trying something new, it doesn't shatter our self-image. So while someone in his twenties may not dare to take an art class for fear of looking incompetent, doing something unfamiliar, a person in his forties or beyond will be much less concerned with appearances, and more interested in experimenting with new ways to learn. Cohen's research underscores the adventurous nature of adults in this liberated phase of development. His investigations show that older adults who are not handicapped by extenuating circumstances such as poor health or financial constraints--are just as venturesome as their younger counterparts. This greater freedom and courage helps explain why throughout history so many older adults in their late sixties, seventies or beyond have assumed the role of shapers and shakers of society. One thinks of Socrates, Copernicus, Titian, Montaigne,Goethe, Rembrandt, Newton, Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Simone de Beauvoir, May Sarton, Eleanor Roosevelt, as people who rose to greatness in their later years. In the advancing years of late life, in what Cohen calls the Encore Stage, there is a desire--a developmental urgency, really--to affirm life in a number of ways. It might be through completing a creative work,or the resolution of a longstanding problem, a statement waiting to be said, or the right thing to do that had been on hold for years. The encore phenomenon taps the inner pressure that many feel to do or say something before it's too late. The phrase applies strongly to the field of music, reminding us of how many noted musical achievements have come late or at the end of a musicain's or composer's career or life cycle--like the late works of Verdi, Liszt, and Stravinsky. This is the time of advancing age, in which creative expression is shaped by the desire to make strong, lasting contributions on a personal or community level, to affirm life, take care of unfinished business, and celebrate one's own contribution. This phase typically occurs among those in their eighties or older. The multidisciplinary Dr. Cohen cites some fascinating biological studies of the the brain that reveal that between one's early fifties and late seventies there is actually an increase in both the number and length of branches from individual brain cells in different parts of the brain involved with higher intellectual functioning (Cohen,p.79) These branching changes compensate for brain cell loss that can occur over time. They also and give further evidence of the platicity or modifiabilty of the brain as it ages. Something even more interesting about these neuro-biological findings is that they directly correspond timewise to the unfolding of the above human potential phases pointing to a possible biological connection to the changes in human development in the second half of life. These human potential phases combine elements of age-based developmental stages as described by Erikson with the greater fluidity of life transitions that we experience today. Sometimes we might experience a phase in sync with others our age, but not always, the age of occurrence varies. Sometimes they co-exist, intersect, even synergize or combine in a way that adds even greater energy to the mix.The significance of these human potential phases is that they set the state for a new creative thrust at different points in our lives. Our awareness of these phases can help close the gap between recognizing our potential and acutually harnessing it. Knowing that the natural course of development can bring us closer to tapping our creative potential at different times can provide a much needed measure of confidence or faith which we sometimes need to begin, change or energize our creative efforts. I have only scratched the surface of this book, but this summary should be sufficient to indicate its importance. I recommend that everyone interested in new discoveries about human behavior,creativity and longevity read it.-John-Raphael Staude, Ph.D. [email protected]
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