Omnipotence and Self-Fulfillment: Key Issues in Analytically-Oriented Psychotherapy With Older Persons

“In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard it is to tell of that wood, savage and harsh and dense, the thought of which renews my fear.” These words from the opening stanzas of Dante's “Divine Comedy” were written when the author was 37, just banished from his beloved Florence. There have been numerous interpretations of these words by various literary critics. One interpretation might be to view it as a reflection of the disquietude of Dante's middle age, as he was beset by changes and flux in the personal, religious, philosophical, and social aspects of his being. What are the great dilemmas of midlife or those years preceding 65 or 70 when, in the simplest terms, the “older” years or maturity (by George Pollock's definition) begins? How might these issues be conceptualized, and how can we use our theoretical knowledge of the middle years to help us in our therapeutic work with persons in this age group? In this paper I shall attempt to elucidate some of what I feel are key theoretical issues, focusing particularly on various conceptualizations in regard to personal omnipotence. I shall then briefly discuss some specific and relevant issues in psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy.

It is important to note a self-evident fact at this juncture: many of the issues relevant to a discussion of “midlife” are also quite applicable to the post-65 or 70 individual. It is also apparent to experienced therapists that, when some persons reach age 65 to 70 chronologically, developmentally they might not have faced some of the key issues of