No: 39 / THE PROBLEMATIC OF LOSS AS A "PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF DAILY LIFE " IN OLD AGE: AN INVESTIGATION WITH PROJECTIVE TESTS ON BODY IMAGE AND FEMININITY

  • THE PROBLEMATIC OF LOSS AS A "PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF DAILY LIFE " IN OLD AGE: AN INVESTIGATION WITH PROJECTIVE TESTS ON BODY IMAGE AND FEMININITY

    Aylin Erbahar
    Summary :

    Aging, the last transformative phase of human life, requires confrontation with deficiencies, losses, and changes. It is inevitable that the problematic of loss that emerges in this period does not have a manifestation on women in terms of body image, feminine and femininity. In the psychoanalytic literature, it is mentioned that a psychically healthy aging work is to process the depressive position. This article examines the alienation from the body, the emergence of archaic anxieties through the body and the undermining of femininity in old age. In this study, the reflection of the problematic of loss that emerges in this process on a 71-year-old woman's body image, fantasies about the body, representations of feminine and femininity are addressed through Rorschach Test and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

    Keywords : Aging, Body image, Femininity, Rorschach Test, Thematic Apperception Test