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Aging with Trauma Across the Lifetime and Experiencing Trauma in Old Age: Vulnerability and Resilience Intertwined

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Traumatic Stress and Long-Term Recovery

Abstract

This chapter addresses the intertwinement of vulnerability and resilience among individuals who age while still bearing past experiences of trauma, or otherwise facing trauma that typically occurs in old age. We review apparently contradictory results available in the literature on older adults exposed to such experiences. Particularly emphasized are coping mechanisms that are available to older adults facing trauma. In order to advance the understanding of these perplexing issues, we present the model of the pursuit of happiness in a hostile world (Shmotkin, Review of General Psychology 9:291–325, 2005), which delineates the dynamic interplay between positive systems that induce a favorable psychological environment (subjective well-being and meaning in life) and the personally perceived image of life adversities (the hostile-world scenario). The chapter suggests that certain adaptational and developmental processes may enlarge, rather than restrict, the options of older adults to cope with trauma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gerontology and the Center for Research and Study of Aging, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, 3498838, Haifa, Israel

    Yuval Palgi PhD

  2. Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, 52900, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Amit Shrira PhD

  3. School of Psychological Sciences and the Herczeg Institute on Aging, Tel Aviv University, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Dov Shmotkin PhD

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  1. Yuval Palgi PhD
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  2. Amit Shrira PhD
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  3. Dov Shmotkin PhD
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Correspondence to Yuval Palgi PhD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Louisiana State University Dept. Psychology, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

    Katie E. Cherry

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Palgi, Y., Shrira, A., Shmotkin, D. (2015). Aging with Trauma Across the Lifetime and Experiencing Trauma in Old Age: Vulnerability and Resilience Intertwined. In: Cherry, K. (eds) Traumatic Stress and Long-Term Recovery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18866-9_16

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