How Our Beliefs Change as We Age

Often, I work with clients who profess entrenched beliefs about subjects ranging from relationships to health, from career to religion. Some of those ideas serve them, others clearly don’t and in many cases have led to the need for therapy. They may take the form of cognitive distortions that can hamper every realm of our lives. What enables us to tackle them instead of allowing them to knock us over, is an awareness of what they truly are. While they may be born out of actual events, the impact on our lives is a choice, rather than a necessity. Early messages from caregivers, teachers and society itself, either spoken or not verbalized can become convictions. A reality check is called for by asking: Is it true? What evidence do I have for that belief? What if I didn’t need to believe it? What is the payoff for believing it? What am I willing to do to alter that belief? Who can I talk to in order to seek support for changing it? I recall a session with a man who bemoaned the situation he was in as he sadly told me, “Everyone in my life is gone. They have all died.” I empathized with him and asked him if he believed that everyone he had known were all the people he would ever know. He nodded and said he did indeed hold that to be true. These were family members, as well as friends from his neighborhood or school. He was not socially adept and tended to isolate. The next step was to challenge the idea and suggest ways that he might put himself out into the world gra...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Aging Memory and Perception Cognitive Distortions Source Type: blogs